At least two civilians were killed in a clash between Myanmar regime forces and the rebel Arakan Army (AA) in the Rakhine state, while separate attacks left 35 junta soldiers dead at the Sagaing and Bago regions, reports The Irrawaddy.
A 50-year-old vehicle owner and a 20-year-old civilian driver were killed when AA troops attacked the vehicle carrying wounded junta soldiers in northern Maungdaw on Monday night.
“We heard gunshots for some 20 minutes around 11 pm….. The next morning, we were told by the police the female vehicle owner died in the shooting,” a villager from Phet Wun Chaung village told The Irrawaddy.
The AA and the Myanmar military have observed an informal ceasefire since the November 2020 general election after two years of intense fighting, but tensions have risen on the ground recently and renewed fighting broke out in Maungdaw in November last year.
Meanwhile, the 35 junta soldiers, before being killed, were ambushed by people’s defense forces (PDFs) throughout Tuesday.
Of them, 22 soldiers were killed or injured when seven resistance forces ambushed a military convoy with mines on the Pale-Yinmabin Highway in Yinmabin township of Sagaing. The groups claimed they used 41 mines in the attack.
Three other PDFs attacked troops attempting to raid Ma Daunggyi village in Sagaing Region, killing at least six junta soldiers, said the Wolf Guerrilla Revolution Force that took part in the ambush.
On Tuesday morning in Pale Township, Sagaing, seven resistance groups raided Inmahtee village where members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia were based. The militia is trained and armed by the military regime.
Two Pyu Saw Htee members were killed while a resistance fighter was injured, said the People Revolution Army that joined the raid.
On Tuesday night, Gyobingauk PDF said it attacked a Pyu Saw Htee camp in Myaypyar village in Gyobingauk township of the Bago region, killing five militia members, including three commanders.
Myanmar junta has been struggling to control the country a year after the February 1, 2021 coup and now faces intensified clashes nationwide with civilian resistance forces and ethnic armed groups allied with them.
Since the power grab, the Southeast Asian nation has been witnessing an increase in deadly battles between its military and organised groups of armed civilians, a latest study revealed.
Conflict monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project says about 12,000 people have been killed in political violence since the coup, with clashes growing alarmingly since August.
