PDF seizes village police station in Sagaing’s Wetlet Township one year after first attempt to capture site

The anti-junta Shwebo District People’s Defence Force (PDF) arrested 16 police officers from a station it raided with its allies in Sagaing Region’s Wetlet Township last week, according to the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) under which it fights. The NUG’s Military Region 1 announced on Saturday that the PDF seized 31 light weapons, 6,400 bullets, 32 grenades and other military supplies during the November 21 attack on the site in Shwe Pan Kone village, located 11 miles west of Wetlet town. After three policemen were reportedly killed in the early morning assault, the remaining officers attempted to escape rather than surrender to the resistance. Among those captured was the sheriff, the NUG said. “They only fled after realising that they couldn’t win. We found them hiding in the woods,” said a member of one of the guerrilla forces involved in the attack. Junta fighter jets bombed nearby villages, destroying monasteries and homes, during the fight for the control of the police station. A member of the Shwe Pan Kone village defence group, which fought alongside the Shwebo PDF, said that some of the surviving police officers had hidden their weapons and sought refuge inside homes that belonged to supporters of the military. Local resistance forces attempted to seize the Shwe Pan Kone police station in October of last year but were forced to abandon the operation by junta airstrikes in which one civilian and one guerrilla fighter were killed. More than 130 miles north of Wetlet in upper Sagaing Region, anti-junta defence forces have seized the town of Kawlin, the seat of the district by the same name, as well as Khampat, near Sagaing’s western borders with Chin State and India.

PDF seizes village police station in Sagaing’s Wetlet Township one year after first attempt to capture site

The Shwebo District PDF detains 16 junta police officers found hiding in the woods after fleeing the besieged site

Subscribe for full access

Across a border and into a war: A Karenni leader’s final journey

When going home is impossible: Myanmar nationals find solace in Singapore’s Peninsula Plaza

The Russian general behind Moscow’s decades-long military courtship of Myanmar

Explainer: Who are the companies and cronies backing Myanmar junta leader’s Thailand visit?

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar military, MNDAA move to strengthen positions amid rising tensions

Five killed in Myanmar junta airstrikes in retaliation for attack by PDF forces

Myanmar tin mega-mine restarts operations: think tank

H&M says Myanmar exit from garment factory follows responsible withdrawal policy