The junta’s military is losing more ground in upper Mandalay and, as a result, it is falling back on what it has become best known for – bombing civilians, resistance groups say.
The Mandalay People’s Defense Force (PDF) on Tuesday defeated a junta military unit that was trying to retake a military checkpoint captured by the PDF in Madaya Township, the PDF said.
It seized weapons and found the bodies of seven dead junta soldiers left behind by their comrades when they retreated from their failed attempt to capture Yenantha checkpoint on Tuesday, it said.
The PDF said it killed two more junta soldiers and arrested four others, including a captain, and seized weapons and ammunition as it pursued the fleeing soldiers from the Pin Lel Gyi base in Singu Township.
Residents of Madaya and Singu townships say the regime has been constantly hitting civilian villages with shelling and airstrikes in response to resistance offensives. Civilians are being killed and homes destroyed by the bombs, residents say.
The junta’s artillery, including a howitzer deployed at a football field in Madaya town, shelled villages north of the town at least six times on Tuesday, residents said. The regime also carried out an airstrike on Oak Phoe village east of Madaya, according to The Voice of Wetlet Madaya, an anti-regime group monitoring fighting in Madaya Township.
“Two houses were destroyed during the air raid on Oak Phoe village at around 12 pm on Tuesday. A child was killed immediately, and other residents were injured. The regime also carried out an air raid on Pak Phoe Lay village at around 1.30 pm,” said a member of The Voice of Wetlet Madayar.
Shells fired from multiple rocket launchers in Madaya town landed near Sakyin village north of the town, a resident of the village said.
“The explosion was so powerful that it shattered boulders on the [nearby] mountain. It was like the mountain was dynamited [but] no one was injured,” the source said.
Junta troops deployed in South Tangar village north of Madaya town shelled Yenantha village. The village, about 9 km from Madaya town, was captured by the Mandalay PDF. The shells hit houses in nearby villages and wounded civilians, residents said.
A member of Madaya Township PDF said: “They have been indiscriminately and deliberately shelling from Madaya to the north of the town, no matter who gets killed. They want to discourage resistance forces from advancing on the town. The air raid on Oak Phoe village was also deliberate.”
Civilians were wounded and 11 homes were destroyed or damaged in junta airstrikes on Tuesday in Singu, north of Madaya, residents said.
Mandalay PDF said it had captured 11 junta positions, including police stations, in rural areas of Madaya and Singu townships.
Fifteen junta soldiers, including deputy battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel Hline Tun Aung from Thabeikkyin Township, were captured in fighting in Singu, resistance fighters said. Members of junta-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militias also reportedly surrendered.
Resistance fighters said they had also seized weapons the regime’s military had air dropped to its troops in the area.
More than 10,000 residents from villages along the road between Madaya and Singu have been displaced by the fighting.
