Resistance fighters capture pro-regime militia base camp in central Myanmar

Despite support from the junta air force, a militia base fortified with bunkers and barbed wire fell to an assault by resistance groups on Wednesday in Magway Region’s Pakokku Township, resistance groups said. Spokespersons for the involved resistance groups said two of their members were killed by airstrikes during the battle for the base, which was manned by a pro-military, Pyu Saw Htee militia armed and trained by the regime. “Around 6am on December 11, we attacked the Pyu Saw Htee militia camp on a monastery compound in Yae Lar Lay village, and fought for more than an hour,” a spokesperson for the resistance group No. 8 Column told Myanmar Now. The assault was carried out by an alliance of resistance groups, including members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) based in the northwestern military command region, the Student Armed Forces, the Pakokku District Regional Defence Force, the Earthquake People’s Defence Force, and the Kama Revolution Force, as well as the No. 8 Column. The No. 8 Column is made up of members of the People’s Democratic Army—a resistance group based in Pakokku Township—and the Students’ Revolutionary Forces. Members of the No. 8 Column with arms and ammunition seized after the battle with the junta-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia (Photo: No. 8 Column) “The camp was well-fortified. But we went step by step taking down the enemy’s bunkers. In addition, we captured the Pyu Saw Htee leaders. But we had to contend with enemy airstrikes,” the No. 8 Column spokesperson said. The resistance fighters continued to press forward through four rounds of airstrikes, the spokesperson said, finally reaching the remaining Pyu Saw Htee positions throughout the compound. In a subsequent statement, the PLA confirmed their members took part in the operation, helping to dismantle the fortifications and bunkers around the monastery. “The fierce fighting lasted nearly an hour after we had already passed through a minefield and gotten over an electric fence. The fighters seized the camp and half the village around it,” the statement said. “Although we won, two resistance fighters were killed: Htein Min Khant, a 21-year-old from the SAF, and Ko Htet from the PLA, who suffered a fatal head injury in the airstrikes.” According to the No. 8 Column spokesperson, three other resistance fighters and three local civilians were injured. The PLA claimed in its statement to have killed six members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia as well as taking seven prisoners and seizing several weapons, a stash of gold and currency, and stored army and police uniforms with insignia.

Resistance fighters capture pro-regime militia base camp in central Myanmar

Under attack from the air, anti-junta forces lost two fighters during a battle to capture an outpost in Pakokku Township, Magway Township manned by a junta-trained militia

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