A battle broke out between the Military Council troops based in Than Moe Taung village in Than Daung Gyi township of Karen State, and the Northern Than Daung s Defence Force along with joint forces on November 26. Local sources confirmed that a woman was killed, and 5 villagers were injured as the Military Council attacked not only by shelling, but also by air raids during the fighting.A local reported , “ A woman was killed on the spot and five villagers were injured. The woman from Taungoo visited Than Daung when this tragedy happened. Residents of the villages around the military camp do not dare to return home, because they are afraid of renewed fighting, and are taking shelter in the homes of their relatives in nearby villages.”
U Mote Sate, information officer of the Northern Thandaung Defense Force informed KIC, “We first formulated a strategy to reduce the size military forces based in their camp at Than Moe Daung. At around 6:00 AM that day, the Northern Thandaung Defense Force, the 4th Division of Southern 3501st Battalion and People Defense Forces (PDFs) jointly launched an attack and attempted to capture the Than Moe Daung-based Military Council camp. We tried to capture the camp after about 30 troops of the Military Council departed to clear the surrounding areas.
But we were attacked by both artillery and warplanes, so we had to retreat because we were afraid of more casualties among our comrades. After we retreated, the Military Council continued shelling arbitrarily until a long time later, causing civilian casualties”, he told KIC.
U Mote Sate said that at least 15 members of the Military Council were killed in the battle, and there were no casualties among the Northern Than Daung Defense Force and joint forces. Currently, the Military Council has reinforced the base and security has tightened in the area.
U Mote Sate added that there were 4 clashes with the Military Council forces in November in the special region of northern Than Daug Gyi, and about 20 Military Council troops suffered casualties.
