One member of the Karenni joint forces is reportedly killed and four more injured in a four-hour battle against 300 Myanmar army troops.
One member of a local defence force was killed and four more injured by artillery fire from the junta’s army during fighting in Kayah (Karenni) State’s Demoso Township on Monday, according to a resistance fighter.
A joint force made up of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), the Karenni Army (KA) and the local People’s Defence Force attacked around 300 Myanmar army troops coming from Daw Poe Si village at around 8am on Monday.
The fighting lasted around four hours and took place near Sanpya 6-Mile village, with the resistance forces withdrawing by around 12:30pm.
“The main reason was that we had less weapons than them, and they fired heavy artillery. Because of that, we had to withdraw from the area,” a KNDF fighter said. “They were able to continuously fire heavy artillery—it was falling like rain,” he added, estimating that the military shot some 40 to 50 shells in 15 minutes.
Two of the four injured members of the Karenni resistance were reportedly in critical condition.
The KNDF fighter speculated that the military may have been trying to gain control of the Loikaw-Demoso road, which serves as the main route for the transportation of food into the area. At the time of reporting, the junta’s forces had occupied the road.
The military’s Demoso-based Artillery Battalion 102 and Light Infantry Battalion 427 reportedly fired the artillery, along with other battalions based in Loikaw, the state capital.
A local from nearby Kone Thar village suffered a leg injury from the artillery fire but was in stable condition according to the KNDF member, who added that the death toll would have been higher if the junta troops had been more familiar with the area.
“They didn’t know much about the area. If they had known the area well, we might have suffered heavy casualties,” the fighter said. “They too would have suffered casualties. Our troops fired heavily for almost two hours as they came up the road.”
Myanmar Now was not able to independently verify the KNDF fighter’s claims.
Attacks on the junta by resistance forces have recently escalated across Myanmar, particularly in ethnic states and Sagaing and Magway regions, but local groups have frequently been outgunned by the military.
On September 7, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) announced the start of a full-scale armed revolt against the junta, but it remains unclear how the NUG is connecting with and supporting local defence forces.
source myanmar-now