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Two resistance fighters killed in Htilin Township ambush by junta forces

Two members of the anti-junta Yaw Revolution Army (YRA) were killed and three more resistance fighters injured in a clash with regime forces in Magway Region’s Htilin Township last week, according to the leader of the group.

Fighting broke out on June 15 near Ohn Twe village, located four miles north of Htilin town. At the time of the clash, it was occupied by 150 Myanmar army troops and members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia.

Two 19-year-olds, Wai Yan Lin—a YRA squadron commander—and another member of the group, Win Ko Naing, were killed in the battle.

“We clashed with the hidden junta scouts, and they fired at us from behind as well as from the front,” YRA leader Thakhin Zaw told Myanmar Now, adding that one of their guns was also seized.

Members of the resistance force were only able to return fire for a few minutes before being forced to retreat.

“We couldn’t even retrieve the dead bodies of our men. I heard that the military dragged them into the village and cremated them that evening.”

Three other resistance fighters, including a member of the Ohn Twe village defence team, were injured. Another defence team member was missing at the time of reporting, according to Thakhin Zaw, who said it was not clear if he was taken by the military.

Locals said that the junta forces occupying Ohn Twe were from Infantry Battalion 50 and arrived on June 14 from Htilin town. They left the village in the early morning on June 16.

A military airstrike on a People’s Administration Office in Htilin Township in April killed three members of the local anti-junta governance body and injured nine other people.

Most of the township, with the exception of urban areas, is held by local resistance forces.

Htilin is one of three Magway townships that make up the Yaw Region, the other two being Gangaw and Saw. The area is home to the Yaw people, an ethnic Bamar subgroup, and borders Sagaing Region and Chin State.

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