Two local defence forces overran a military outpost in southern Shan State’s Nyaungshwe Township on Thursday, killing 15 troops and taking five more prisoner, according to an officer who took part in the assault.

The outpost, located in Hti Ri, a village near Nyaungshwe’s border with Pekhon Township, was shared by regime forces and members of the Pa-O National Army (PNA), an ethnic armed group allied with Myanmar’s military.

“It was completely overrun. We seized weapons and ammunition and then left, taking the captured soldiers with us by car,” said a deputy commander from the Pekhon People’s Defence Force (PDF), one of the groups involved in the attack.

Pekhon Township, which borders Kayah (Karenni) State, is one of the areas where ethnic Karenni resistance groups have been fighting Myanmar’s dictatorship since last year’s coup.

The Pekhon PDF, which is under the command of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), carried out the attack with members of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force’s (KNDF).

The two groups handed their prisoners over to representatives of the NUG defence ministry’s Shan-Kayah military affairs commission, said the Pekhon PDF deputy commander, adding that they are currently receiving treatment for their injuries.

Three of the wounded troops were said to be from the PNA, which is the armed wing of the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO). The group, led by military-aligned politician Aung Kham Hti, signed a ceasefire agreement with the former junta in 1991.

One of the junta casualties was reportedly a major. The regime’s Military Operations Command 7, based in the town of Pekhon, fired heavy artillery from 50km away and carried out two airstrikes in response to the attack. 

According to the Pekhon PDF officer, two members of the group were injured in the attack, including one whose condition was described as critical.

In a statement released on Thursday night, the Pekhon PDF said that it had seized mortars, grenade launchers, assault rifles, several types of bomb, and artillery shells in the raid. 

Hti Ri is a village of around 3,000 inhabitants. Residents say that troops stationed at the outpost, which was located at a local school, routinely harassed displaced locals and others from outside of the village.

“They asked for money from travellers and forced them to get down on their knees. That’s why we went there and attacked them,” the Pekhon PDF officer told Myanmar Now on Thursday.

Observers noted that the attack took the Karenni forces farther from their usual field of operations than any previous mission, and also put them closer to the junta’s administrative capital of Naypyitaw.

Fighting in and around Karenni State has been fierce over the past year, with new groups joining forces with established ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) such as the Karenni Army to resist the newly installed regime.

While some EAOs, such as the PNO, remain allied to the junta, many others have abandoned peace deals to resume fighting with a regime that is deeply unpopular among most citizens.

Headquartered in the Shan State capital Taunggyi, the PNO is said to be facing heavy criticism from some ethnic Pa-O civilians for its perceived allegiance to the regime.

Resistance groups such as the Pekhon PDF say they also regard the PNO as essentially indistinguishable from the junta.

“For us, Aung Kham Hti and the military are the same. There is no difference,” said the Pekhon PDF officer.

(Video- Supplied)

Military intelligence officers deceived and killed by Myanmar resistance

Two military security affairs officials who had worked undercover to expose and crush urban guerrilla forces are targeted in the intelligence operations of the armed resistance

Two military security affairs officials who had worked undercover to expose and crush urban guerrilla forces are targeted in the intelligence operations of the armed resistance

MN: The junta has announced many arrests in recent months. Are their reports accurate? And how many of these arrests were due to undercover operations?

SK: Some were true, and some weren’t. Some were cases of cats getting caught in rabbit traps. That is, the ones they caught were not the ones they were trying to catch. Some groups had weak security, so they got raided. But the numbers are not as big as they claim. 

Even a relative newcomer like me can spot the undercover officers, and we have many within our ranks who are far more experienced. It’s not that easy [to infiltrate UG groups]. It’s true that there have been some undercover arrests, but I would say that it has been about 25% at most.

MN: How do the undercover military officers enter the resistance forces?

SK: I attended a training on this when I was in the jungle. They will say they know so-and-so, or so-and-so vouches for them. Or they will approach someone and make connections via that person. Or they will say they know someone who has already been arrested. They will use that person’s name to verify their own identity. 

But their tactics are of no use now, because we are doing three stages of vetting. We missed some, but we caught some as well. We accepted them if we wanted some information. If we don’t need any information, we treat them agreeably and keep them in our sight. We can’t let the enemy out of our sight. We carefully vet all people who contact us.

MN: Do you think there are any undercover officers in the YUA now? How can you tell who is a real resistance fighter and who isn’t?

SK: I can say for sure that there are none in our ranks now, because we have verified several times. For example, if someone whose background we don’t know comes up to us claiming to belong to a resistance force, we will ask him where he received his training. Then we will ask for his serial number and contact his camp to find at least two people who can vouch for him.

We can tell when someone in our ranks is really an undercover officer. They are very obvious sometimes. For example, when they carry out bomb attacks, they never hurt their own people or do any real damage. True resistance fighters will never make useless attacks. They will make sure every attack is impactful. Another thing is the military’s undercover agents talk a lot to our people to win our trust. A true fighter doesn’t talk much, but focuses on his mission.

MN: Do you think the urban revolution is losing steam?

SK: No, it is not slowing down. But it is different now that every mission is strategically planned and has a large impact. Previously, we did a series of bomb attacks. It was loud but only some attacks were effective. There may be fewer attacks now, but we have better results. So I would say the revolution is picking up speed, based on these results.

MN: What is the greatest difficulty the urban guerilla forces are facing?

SK: Our biggest problem is the low level of public collaboration. We want more than we are currently getting. I want to ask the public to help our urban guerrillas and try to get involved in any way possible. That way the revolution will be successful in no time. We have the right intention and take the right action. The right side will always win. That’s why we will win. I just want to say please don’t give up and give us some time.