‘Two dozen fighters killed in Myanmar in army ambush’

Bangkok: About two dozen members of local resistance forces in central Myanmar were killed in an army ambush as they sought to evacuate villagers ahead of a feared attack by the military, according to resistance members and media reports.

The total number of resistance fighters killed last Friday near Chay Yar Taw village in Sagaing region’s Myinmu township, if confirmed, would be one of the highest totals in a single combat engagement in the ongoing strife in Myanmar since the army seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The army’s takeover triggered mass nonviolent protests nationwide and the military and police responded with deadly force. Armed resistance arose in turn, which has since turned into what U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war.

The army for the past two years has been conducting major offensives in the countryside, including burning villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. It has faced some of its toughest resistance in Sagaing, in Myanmar’s historic heartland.

Loosely organized resistance groups opposed to army rule, known as the People’s Defense Force, or PDF.