An anti-coup resistance force in eastern Myanmar’s Karenni (Kayah) State said at least 35 junta soldiers were killed in clashes over the two-day New Year period in Demoso and Hpruso townships.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) said in a statement on Saturday that its members—accompanied by members of the Karenni Army (KA) and the Demoso chapter of the People’s Defence Force (PDF)—attacked junta troops stationed at the Pyi Aung Yadanar petrol station as well as a police station in Demoso on New Year’s Eve.
At least 30 junta soldiers were killed in the clashes, as were two members of the resistance alliance, with around 10 more injured, a KNDF deputy battalion commander told Myanmar Now on Saturday.
The deputy commander added that Myanmar army soldiers had frequently been seen occupying the petrol station prior to the attack. Resistance forces ambushed them after they were seen in the area again on Friday morning after being absent for around one week.
“They would leave the place for three or four days but they would always come back. They had essentially claimed that place as their own,” he said.
The junta troops retreated from the site after the clash and carried out an airstrike in order to push resistance forces out of the area and collect the bodies of their slain soldiers.
“There must be a great number of casualties on their side. They bought about 30 minutes of time by carrying out the airstrike which was enough to collect the bodies,” the KNDF deputy battalion commander told Myanmar Now.
At the same time as the 8am attack on the Pyi Aung Yadanar petrol station, resistance forces also attacked the Demoso central police station, Saw Reh, a member of youth resistance group Karenni Generation Z (KGZ), told Myanmar Now.
Members of at least four groups—the Demoso PDF, KGZ and the KNDF—struck the police station while members from the KA, KNDF and the Loikaw chapter of the PDF attacked the petrol station, he said.
Due to military airstrikes launched at around 3:30pm, the coalition forces retreated from the police station and were unable to seize it, he said. Using a tank as cover, junta troops came to collect the bodies of their troops who had been killed in the battle.
However, the clashes continued until 6pm and the Myanmar army deployed at least two fighter jets and fired heavy artillery in their attack against Karenni forces.
Some 2,000 displaced people sheltering in a nearby village fled once again due to Friday’s fighting and the shelling by the junta, according to local sources. Further information about their condition and whereabouts was not known at the time of reporting.
Meanwhile in Hpruso, members from the KA and KNDF engaged in a three-hour clash on Friday with junta troops near the villages of Htee Thaw Ta Nee Ku and Law Htaw Ta Naw, according to the KNDF. At least three Myanmar army soldiers were killed but the resistance forces suffered no casualties or injuries, the KNDF said in the statement.
The next day at around 4:30pm, the Karenni armed alliance ambushed junta forces stationed at a pagoda compound near the Demoso central police station—the same location as Friday’s clash. At least five junta soldiers were killed on the spot, according to a KNDF statement published on Sunday.
“A couple of our people got injured but they’re not in critical condition,” a KNDF spokesperson told Myanmar Now.
The KNDF also issued a warning to civilians to not travel in the area as the clashes have been escalating in the townships of Loikaw, Demoso and Hpruso.
“We would like civilians to be very cautious in going out these days. It’s best if they can stay inside,” the spokesperson said.
Over the last seven months, the military has suffered several casualties during battles with the Karenni resistance in both Karenni State and in Pekhon Township in southern Shan State.
Between May 19 and December 31, there were some 130 clashes between the junta’s troops and Karenni anti-coup forces. At least 249 Myanmar army soldiers were killed in those clashes and nearly 149 injured, the KNDF said.
The KNDF headed the resistance coalitions that participated in more than 80 of these clashes, and saw 13 members of their group killed.
At least 146 civilians have been killed by the military in the Karenni region since the February 1 copu and a total of more than 600 buildings, including homes and churches, have been destroyed by military arson and artillery fire, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group.
