Some 25 Myanmar army troops are believed to have been killed in three guerrilla attacks carried out by the Yaw Defence Force (YDF) in northern Magway Region during a two-week period in April, according to a spokesperson for the group.
The anti-junta resistance force is active in an area of central Myanmar known as the Yaw region, which includes Gangaw, Htilin and Saw townships in Magway, near the Chin State border.
Fifteen soldiers were reportedly killed on the spot and several more injured when the YDF used explosive devices to strike a military truck in Gangaw Township on April 30, YDF information officer Ko Nyi told Myanmar Now.
At 4am, the group set fire to the eastern entrance gate to the town of Kyaw—where the soldiers were stationed and where the military’s No. 23 weapons factory is located. That afternoon, they attacked an army vehicle that was leaving the factory and carrying around 30 troops.
“We essentially lured them out,” Ko Nyi said. “We attacked them with explosives on the road and everyone who survived was injured.”
On the evening of April 27, the YDF also ambushed soldiers travelling to a bathing spot on Shu Khin Thar Lake near Kyaw. The group claimed to have killed six troops—including a captain—and injured the remaining two.
The YDF also attacked junta forces on the outskirts of Htilin Township on April 14, resulting in the deaths of five soldiers, including another captain, Ko Nyi said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the YDF’s reports of casualties or the presence of captains in either attack.
The military has responded to the attacks by launching repeated assaults on Yaw region villages and arresting civilians on the suspicion that they are supporting the guerrilla fighters, according to local sources.
The YDF maintains that the junta’s administrative mechanism is only functional in towns in the region but not operational in rural areas, which remain strongholds of resistance forces.
