Ko Di Mon, the leader of the Gangaw People's Defence Force, said that at least 20 soldiers were killed and five others were injured when a convoy of 20 vehicles marched from Gangwon to Kale township mined by local defence forces on five consecutive days.

As the convoy, which has been marching along the Kale-Gangaw Road since December 25, has been mined by local defence forces, junta troops suffered serious injuries.

Gangaw is in Magway Division.

"They were mined continuously from December 25 until today when they reached Namkha village. Whenever they cleared mines about a mile ahead, other groups are marching slowly. When they come out, there will be about 20 vehicles. But when they get to the Namkha village, there will be only eight,” said Ko Di Mon.

Local People's Defence battalion and companies detonate mines every day, detonating at least seven mines at a time. Junta force suffered heavy casualties as mines were detonated at least three times a day along the highway.

PDF GanGaw also released a list of attacks and casualties on the military council convoy to date.

Ko Di Mon said efforts by their group to seize weapons from the junta soldiers when injured or killed was hampered by the PDF’s lack of good firearms.

"Once we detonated the mine, we saw these people rolling with pain. They fired heavy weapons and small arms at such times. If we only had weapons to defend ourselves, we would be able to confiscate weapons and ammunition from them. Now we can't fight back, so we are fighting like a form of hit-and-run after detonating," he said.

The battalion, which suffered heavy casualties, is still stationed in Namkha village, where heavy fighting was carried out by military helicopters last week.

PDF Gangaw issued a statement urging people to travel carefully on the Kale-Gangaw Road, where fighting with the Military Council is intensifying.