Combined people’s defence forces (PDFs) forces attacked two military trucks with landmines killing six junta soldiers and injuring another three near Kyaung Kan Village, in Magwe Region’s Myaing Township at about noon on 18 November.

Captain Lattyar from Myaing PDF, one of the PDFs involved in the attack, said: “We attacked the two military trucks with three landmines. Three troops were injured, and six were killed. Following the attack, the local defence force withdrew safely. However, one civilian was slightly injured when the junta troops fired at random. We've already taken him to hospital.”

After the landmine attack, the military council troops fired randomly in the area of the incident for about 15 minutes. The convoy then spent the night in Kyaung Kan Village. The next day, 19 November, at about 9:00 a.m. they arrested about 30 villagers from Kyaung Kan and used them as human shields, according to locals.

Captain Lattyar said: “We planted landmines outside Kyaung Kan Village with the intention of attacking the junta troops as soon as they left the village. But we couldn’t attack with the planted landmines because they [the junta troops] were using villagers as human shields. After they had passed the mines outside Kyaung Kan Village they released the villagers.”