Loikaw, March (3)
The Pa-O militia, which were members of the Pa-O National Organization/ Pa-O National Army (PNO/PNA) joined the junta column in the borders between Kayah and Shan States, the military sources from Kayah State told Than Lwin Times.
On February 27, the combined force of PNA and regime troops launched an offensive into Pekon town, situated on the Shan-Kayah border and clashed with the Karenni Army (KA), the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), and the People’s Defense Force (PDF).
The battle resulted in nine casualties on junta side and the PDF confiscated three M-16s, one AK-47, four 9-mm rifles, and some bullets.
The Karenni Military Information Center (KMIC) said it could confirm that the PNA collaborated with the military council because some dead soldiers wore PNA uniforms.
There have been reports that the PNO/PNA have had joint military operations with regime forces on the Shan-Kayah border since the military coup.
In May last year, when the military council’s Htiyi camp was attacked in Shan State’s Nyangshwe Township, some PNA soldiers were among the dead.
At that time, Than Lwin Times asked the PNO, and they gave a solution, saying that soldiers from both groups used to live together and the junta wore PNA uniforms.
Residents said that the PNO/PNA group forced young people in the Pa-o area to exercise military training and extorted 30,000 kyats per house.
The PNO officials didn’t respond to the Than Lwin Times’s request for comments for that matter.
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