Myanmar media and resistance force report two dozen fighters killed in army ambush

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports from central Myanmar say about two dozen members of local resistance forces have been killed in an army ambush as they sought to evacuate villagers ahead of a feared attack by the military. The total number of resistance fighters killed last Friday and Saturday in the Sagaing region, reported by resistance members and Myanmar media, would be one of the highest totals in a single armed confrontation in the country’s ongoing strife 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.