Six civilians killed, Myanmar military loses base camp in Magway Region

After weeks of fierce fighting in Yesagyo Township, Magway Region, six civilians were killed this week and resistance fighters said they took over a junta-controlled village and base camp in an attempt to establish control over the area. One of the slain civilians, a man in his 80s, was killed on Sunday by an artillery shell that struck the monastery on the north side of Hin Thar village, where he was sheltering from the fighting, according to the leader of the Yesagyo People’s Defence Team, Comrade Wai Gyi. Five more civilians died in an exchange of fire between People’s Defence Forces and junta troops near the centre of Yesagyo on Tuesday. Among them was Nan Aye, a resident of Yesagyo’s Yankin Ward in her 40s who sold goods from a bicycle-drawn cart, who was killed instantly by a stray bullet during the shootout. Details about the other four victims’ identities have yet to be confirmed. The local resistance groups that initiated the attacks in Yesagyo lamented the loss of the five civilians’ lives in a statement released that day. The military council has not released any statements regarding clashes in Yesagyo Township. Fighting broke out in Yesagyo’s urban wards on Tuesday morning when four resistance fighters attacked a group of three junta soldiers on their way to a tea shop near a high school close to Yesagyo’s centre. Attempting to retrieve the soldiers’ weapons from their bodies after shooting them down, the resistance fighters came under fire from a nearby junta outpost, which led to further fighting, according to Aung Maing, the leader of the Southern Yesagyo People’s Defence Forces (PDF), one of four resistance groups that had participated in the initial attack. The fighters taking part in the attack near Yesagyo’s centre also included members of the Security Force-Yesagyo, Myingyan Black Tiger, and TPG Urban Guerrilla groups. “When we attempted to collect the guns, the troops stationed at the nearby office complex fired on us using 40mm shell rounds, making it impossible for us to retrieve them,” Aung Maing said. “As the gunfire started, junta troops stationed in the nearby wards surrounded us. We tried to free ourselves from the encirclement, and while we eventually succeeded in breaking through, our path was blocked by a patrol vehicle. We had to shoot it out with the troops in the vehicle before making our way to safety,” he added. Clashes before the shootout The Tuesday shootout followed weeks of fighting in Yesagyo Township between the armed resistance and pro-junta forces, including the Pyu Saw Htee—militias made up of non-soldiers armed and trained by the Myanmar army—as well as regular troops based in Hin Thar village some 16 miles north of Yesagyo. Supported by the Hin Thar-based troops, the junta-trained militia members had launched an attack on the neighbouring village of Ko Yint on July 30. On August 6, a joint column of junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee members had raided Ko Yint village, about a mile to the north of Hin Thar, setting fire to around 25 houses, according to the Yesagyo people’s defence teams. On August 14, junta troops again advanced towards Ko Yint village but were intercepted by local defence groups who inflicted heavy losses in the ensuing battle. In retaliation, the junta carried out air raids on both Ko Yint village and the nearby Hnaung Ba village later the same day. In response to the army and militia attacks, resistance forces say they captured the junta base camp in Hin Thar on Tuesday, torching it and taking 20 armed personnel as prisoners. According to Comrade Wai Gyi, it was still unclear whether the prisoners captured by the resistance forces were Pyu Saw Htee members or regular soldiers. “We blockaded the Pyu Saw Htee stronghold village from all sides, dug bunkers and foxholes, and continued our attacks for ten days. We fired on them whenever they came out where we could see them,” Wai Gyi said. “There were constant exchanges of fire. We shelled the village and bombed it using drones.” “Pyu Saw Htee members fled this morning,” he added, speaking on Tuesday. “Once the Pyu members had gone, the army column retreated too.” Residents of Hin Thar village fled for safety as soon as the fighting began, he continued. “Bunkers were built under the mango trees and at the tobacco curing shed in the village. Only the Pyu Saw Htee members remained,” Wai Gyi said. After losing their camp to the resistance forces, the junta troops retreated south towards Pakokku, Magway Region, and the Pyu Saw Htee members retreated from Hin Thar village to the Pa Khan Gyi police station, located some 6 miles north of the village. Map showing the locations of fighting in Yesagyo Township, Magway Region Fighting continues in villages where the resistance remains strong, especially along the Pakokku-Pa Khan Gyi road and on the populous floodplain in the confluence area between the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin Rivers, lying a few miles northeast of Hin Thar and across the Chindwin River from Yesagyo.

Six civilians killed, Myanmar military loses base camp in Magway Region

More than 20 days of fierce fighting injured villagers outside Yesagyo, and six civilians were killed this week as resistance force continued to clash with junta forces in town and took control of a junta and militia stronghold to the south

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