The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) jointly attacked a junta police station in northern Sagaing Region’s Indaw Township with the local People’s Defence Force (PDF) chapter on Sunday, causing major casualties, a spokesperson said. 

The information officer for the Indaw PDF told Myanmar Now that they learned the site in Me Zar village was occupied by police, soldiers and members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia when they struck it at 3am. 

“We were planning to take over the base, assuming they had only around 20 to 30 people inside, but we later found out that they’d built proper bunkers and trenches and that there were around 100 of them, so we didn’t manage to seize control of the base,” the PDF spokesperson said. 

While the resistance forces managed to enter the compound and destroy several bunkers, they ultimately withdrew at 8am. 

The junta reportedly responded with artillery fire during the five-hour battle. 

Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the number of casualties in the clash, but according to accounts provided by guerrilla fighters, up to 30 junta personnel were killed, along with one member of the KIA-PDF coalition. Three more members of the resistance were injured. 

There was reportedly one civilian casualty, a 19-year-old man from the ward near the police station, who was shot in the chest during the exchange of gunfire. 

The Indaw PDF information officer said that he later learned from military sources that the Myanmar army had sent a helicopter to retrieve the bodies of 11 junta soldiers, including a lieutenant, at 2pm on Sunday. 

A Myanmar army truck transporting some 30 reinforcement troops from Indaw town to Me Zar was also intercepted by the PDF en route at around 8am on Sunday, while the clash was ongoing in the village. 

The attack resulted in the death of five of the soldiers, with several more injured. Another passing truck carrying fuel also reportedly caught fire and was destroyed, according to the PDF spokesperson. 

Citing local eyewitnesses, he said that the military left the wrecked truck at a nearby petrol station and asked civilians in the area for spades with which to bury the slain troops.

“They buried the dead soldiers on the side of the road. They only attempt to retrieve the bodies when the ones killed are higher-ranking officers,” the information officer in the resistance force said. 

While battles appeared to have stopped around Indaw town, a junta column of more than 70 soldiers was recently seen heading towards Me Zar from Htigyaing Township, according to the Indaw PDF. 

At the time of reporting, Myanmar Now was still trying to obtain comment from KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu regarding the weekend fighting around Me Zar. 

Serious clashes have recently been breaking out in Sagaing’s northern townships and along the region’s border with Kachin State, including in Indaw, Katha and Pinlebu. 

The military council rarely releases information on such battles.  

The KNDF says that Myanmar junta troops are responsible for the massacre of who they believe to be men, women and children fleeing clashes near a Karenni village

According to KNDF spokesperson Khu Reedu, who is also the group’s Secretary 3, the soldiers captured in the village of Dungkame (Dawkame) on Saturday admitted to their involvement in the massacre.

“They confessed to the crime themselves,” said Khu Reedu, adding that the prisoners would be handed over to the Karenni State Police (KSP), a resistance law enforcement agency, and detained in accordance with international law.

Myanmar Now was unable to speak to the prisoners or regime officials regarding the KNDF spokesperson’s claims.

Investigators who inspected the site of the mass killing said they found the charred remains of 26 men and five women, including two aid workers, among more than a dozen vehicles consumed by fire. Many more bodies were reduced to ash and collected in bags.

Local residents and resistance forces accused the LID 66 troops of deliberately starting the inferno, but the regime claimed that it was caused by the accidental explosion of fuel containers loaded on some of the vehicles.

The KSP and the shadow National Unity Government’s Ministry of Human Rights said that plans were underway to prosecute regime officials for the incident, but no details about the progress of the proceedings were available.

The aid group called on the UN Security Council to convene as soon as possible to hold the Myanmar military to account for the deadly attack on humanitarian workers 

Troops from LID 66, who are believed to have killed dozens of civilians in Karenni State, are stationed throughout the town

Two prisoners recently released from Hpa-an’s Taung Kalay Prison say that Rohingya detainees there are facing extreme privation

By officially transferring ownership of razed Rohingya villages to border guard forces, the regime seeks to erase the final traces of their existence