Naypyidaw (17/07 – 25.00) A base run by a local resistance group operating in Magway Region’s Pakkoku Township was overrun by regime forces on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for the group.
Around 250 junta troops swarmed the base, located on the western bank of the Ayeyarwady River in the southern part of the township, forcing its members to retreat, he said.
“They marched towards us like ants,” Naga Gyi, the spokesperson for the Myit Chay and Kyun Chaung Defence Force (MC-KCDF), told Myanmar Now.
“We had explosives, but we also would have needed automatic guns to take down such a big group, and we didn’t have enough, so we ended up losing all of our IEDs as well,” he added.
In addition to IEDS, or improvised explosive devices, the group lost 10 handmade rifles and six handmade mortars, as well as five vehicles, fuel, and several mechanical devices, he said.
The raid came days after an army corporal from a unit stationed in Seik Kha Wa, a village on the opposite side of the Ayeyarwady River from Bagan Nyaung-U, was captured by resistance forces near the village of Shar Du last Thursday.
The next day, around 100 soldiers and members of the junta-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia started torching buildings in Shar Du and the neighbouring village of Saing Hpyu, according to Naga Gyi.
He added that the junta forces found their base by forcing local villagers to guide them to it. “They had no choice, because the military had them at gunpoint,” he said
“The base was reduced to ashes, but we will continue to fight for as long as we live. This is just a minor setback,” he added.
On Thursday, pro-military social media channels posted photos of some of the goods seized from the base, including weapons, uniforms, solar panels, and food supplies.
The photos also showed the graves of two resistance fighters allegedly killed during the raid on the base.
The MC-KCDF has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on junta troops travelling across the Tan Kyi hill area, where the village of Seik Kha Wa is located.
The group says that its explosives have killed both regime soldiers and members of the Pyu Saw Htee.
