Residents of a village in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township successfully held off an attempted raid by regime forces on Tuesday, killing one soldier and injuring two, according to local sources.
The locals, armed only with homemade rifles, successfully repelled around 150 heavily armed troops who tried to enter the village of Myoma on Tuesday afternoon, the sources said.
“The villagers kept them at bay by firing warning shots, even though the soldiers were shooting at them non-stop. There was a steady stream of gunfire. We also heard hundreds of individual shots,” said a local who asked to remain anonymous.
Two civilians were shot in the arm and are receiving medical treatment in the village, another resident of the area told Myanmar Now.
“The people have a stronghold in the middle of a field. There are no trees or bushes to hide behind. They [the soldiers] don’t dare go near it, because it’s like entering a killing field,” he said.
Myoma is located in the Talokemyo village tract, which consists of four villages with a combined population of around 10,000 people.
While all the women, children and elderly people living in Myoma have fled the village, every male inhabitant between the ages of 18 and 50 has stayed behind to defend it from attack, sources said.
The assault on Tuesday was the third attempt by the junta’s forces to take control of the village since last month, they added.
“They haven’t managed to get into the village. We don’t know what will happen once they do. For now they are just shooting and waiting. They are threatening it from all sides,” said a villager, describing the situation as of 4pm Tuesday.
There are concerns that the regime may deploy more troops to the area to end the standoff, as it has done in parts of Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Chin State where locals have defended their villages with homemade firearms.
The military has conducted house raids throughout the area to confiscate hunting rifles, axes, and anything else that can be used as a weapon, residents said.
They have also arrested and tortured suspected “rioters” and stolen valuables, including livestock, cash and gold, they added.
