A local resistance fighter told Mizzima that about 70 junta troops from Budalin township set fire to the Winmana Police Station about 15 miles north of Kani township in Sagaing region at around 7 am on 4 May, according to a local resistance fighter who spoke to Mizzima.

'About 70 junta troops arrived from Budalin Township and set it [the police station] on fire at around 7 am. There were about 30 soldiers and police in the Winmana Police Station. Once the junta troops departed from the station, the local people and local People's Defense Forces [PDFs] were able to put out the fire, so the houses were not burnt down to the ground', said the local resistance fighter.

There had been a lot of fighting between PDF and junta forces in Budalin. The PDF fighters managed to force the police and junta soldiers to seek shelter in the police station. They then stationed themselves outside the police station and prevented any junta forces from leaving for nearly a month.

By then, the Military Council forces under siege in the police station were running out of ammunition and food, so the soldiers came to rescue their comrades from the police station and then set fire to it as they left.

As the resistance fighter explained to Mizzima: “As junta troops and police officers were often attacked by People Defence Forces [PDFs], they didn’t dare leave the police station for months. The junta troops from Budalin Township set fire to the Winmana Police Station and saved their soldiers and police officers from the station.”