Myanmar resistance groups claim they have delivered a heavy casualty toll on Military Council troops so far in May, with help from the National Unity Government (NUG) helping financially bolster their firepower.
Both junta forces and People’s Defence Forces (PDF) suffered death and injury, though the groups claim the toll on the junta was worse than that of the resistance.
The Spring Revolution has been going for close to a year and a half, since the February 2022 military coup. During this period, the NUG was born and grew in stature, now beginning to provide weapons to the resistance forces – though PDFs tend to rely heavily on homemade weapons and captured arms.
On 9 May, Chinland Defense Force-Mindat launched landmine attacks on the junta’s convoys as they travelled on the Matupi-Mindat Road in Mindat Township, southern Chin State. The landmine attacks and continued armed clashes inflicted caused more than 30 junta casualties, according to the CDF Mindat information centre.
Moreover, the local armed resistance forces, Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces (KNDF) and People’s Defense Forces-Pekone, attacked a junta outpost near Hti Ri Village, Nyaungshwe Township, southern Chin State on 12 May. More than 20 junta troops were killed in the attack and five junta soldiers were arrested by the armed resistance groups, according to a PDF-Pekone member. The local forces also seized many weapons such as 60mm mortar launchers, machine guns, RPGs and 20 rifles.
Furthermore, the armed fighting on Yay Lal Kyun, Yesagyo Township in Magway District led to the death of 22 junta soldiers and many injuries. In that fight, a PDF member was shot dead, said PDF-Taloke on 14 May. The incident in Yesagyo started on 12 May when the junta’s soldiers torched civilians' houses in Bisakone Village and Hlekoke Village in Yesagyo Township. Then, 19 allied armed resistance groups led by PDF-Taloke, ambushed the junta forces. The ambush led to many injuries to junta troops and forced
them to retreat to Hlekoke Village where they torched the remaining houses on 13 May. When the allied armed resistance groups went to extinguish the fire, they were attacked in an ambush by the junta forces. As a result, a PDF member was shot dead.
Additionally, there had been 13 armed clashes in the first week of May in Kayah (Karenni) State, one of the intense anti-junta armed conflict areas after the coup, said Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF). The armed clashes between 1 and 7 May in Demawso, Hpruso and Bawlakhe townships in Kayah State killed 44 junta soldiers. That was the ambush of Karenni Joint Forces on the junta’s military convoy, comprising 30 vehicles on Bawlekhe-Hpruso Road, near Nan Pe and Lawkyayku villages. The
resistance force destroyed eight vehicles and seized two junta soldiers, 15 rifles, and ammunition. After the coup, from 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2022, there were 1,065 deaths of junta troops and 116 deaths of KA, KNDF, and PDF in Kayah State, according to Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF) on 1 May.
Initially, Karenni armed resistance groups launched the attack on junta forces with traditional ‘Tumee’ rifles (The British colonial administration granted the Chin ethnic groups the right to use Tumee rifles for hunting bears and other wildlife during its 1824-1948 colonial rule of Myanmar) and homemade rifles. Some anti-junta has also acquired modern weapons such as rifles, machine guns, and sniper rifles from various sources.
Like Karenni State, some armed resistance groups in other intensely conflicted areas also acquired better weapons and ammunition. Thus, the junta troops are suffering more casualties compared to the earlier days in the wake of the coup.
