Resistance forces capture 23 Myanmar junta troops near Magway-Rakhine border

An anti-regime armed group said it took at least 23 junta soldiers prisoner in Magway Region’s Ngape Township this week amid intense clashes in the area. A representative of the Chin Defence Force-Asho (CDF-Asho) told Myanmar Now on Friday that the group captured the troops as they were fleeing from the junta’s last remaining hilltop base along the border between Magway Region and Rakhine State. “All were newly conscripted soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 113 and 420 bases,” the CDF-Asho representative said. “Although fighting does not occur every day, clashes have remained intense in the area,” he added. The CDF-Asho, a Chin ethnic armed group that split from the similarly named Asho Chin Defence Force (ACDF), also captured three junta soldiers who fled the same base on June 4. The Nat Yay Kan air defence base is located along the Ann-Padan road linking Rakhine State and Magway Region. A junta defensive position near the base was reportedly seized by the Arakan Army (AA) on June 4, but the group has yet to confirm this information. Junta battalions under the command of Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 have been defending the base since it first came under attack from the AA and ACDF in early March. There are also at least seven junta defensive positions located in villages or forested areas near the base, according to anti-regime forces. “Junta troops are currently stationed at a monastery near Goke Gyi,” the CDF-Asho representative said, referring to a village roughly two miles southeast of the Nat Yay Kan air defence base. There is also another hilltop position between Goke Gyi and the neighbouring village of Bone Baw, he added. The military has also deployed reinforcements using an old route connecting other junta bases to the Nat Yay Kan base in order to prevent the clashes from spilling to other parts of Ngape Township, where a number of munitions factories are located. After losing control of its Western Regional Military Command headquarters in Rakhine State’s Ann Township, junta troops from LID 99 waged a counteroffensive operation near Ka Myin Kan, a village about 33 miles southeast of Ann. However, the AA has since defeated junta battalion units in the area, capturing several soldiers, including a strategic commander from LID 99. Apart from the Asho-CDF, several other resistance groups, including the ACDF, the People’s Revolution Army–Magway, and the Student Armed Force, are active in the area.

Resistance forces capture 23 Myanmar junta troops near Magway-Rakhine border

The recently conscripted soldiers were fleeing from the junta’s last base in the area when they were taken prisoner

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