NAYPYITAW, 26 October 2021, (TON): According to a spokesperson for the Pekhon People’s Defence Force (PDF) “an ambush on a military outpost in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township left five soldiers, including three female officers, dead last Friday.”

The spokesperson said “the attack was carried out at the western gate of the base of the 336th Light Infantry Battalion in Pekhon at around 9:30pm, and resulted in the confiscation of three MA-3 rifles, one MA-1 rifle, and one MA-2 rifle.”

Seven PDF members were involved in the ambush, he added, noting that they didn’t realize that the outpost was manned by female officers until after they went to collect the weapons.

He said “it was dark at the time, so we couldn’t tell who they were. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation. It’s our duty to shoot anyone who is armed and uniformed. The weapons we are using right now are the ones we confiscated from them.”

Local residents said that after the attack, the military shelled the area around Pekhon, destroying several civilian houses and local monasteries.