Myanmar regime reinforcements are massing in Taungtha Township in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan District in a bid to reclaim China-backed oil and gas pipelines captured by resistance forces.
Around 150 junta troops who arrived in Taungtha town on May 29 are deployed in three villages near the pipelines, according to resistance sources.
On Saturday, their ranks were swelled by around 60 troops from a steel plant in neighboring Myingyan town, according to a Taungtha Township People’s Defense Team (PDT) member.
“They are preparing to attack along the pipelines. Military tensions are running high,” he said.
Anti-regime groups launched Operation 9/A Nyar Myae on May 15, with simultaneous attacks on junta positions in Taungtha, Natogyi, Myingyan and Nganzun townships where the pipelines pass through Myingyan District. They captured junta positions guarding the pipelines in Natogyi.
“We still control those positions. Under possible pressure from China, [junta troops] are preparing to raid areas along the pipelines,” said a member of Taungtha Township PDT.
Resistance groups in the township attacked two junta offices and the house of a ward administrator on May 28, according to the Taungtha Strike Committee.
Pro-junta Telegram channels reported that anti-regime groups reached the town center and torched the land records department amid fierce fighting.
Resistance groups attacked at least four junta positions in Taungtha Township between May 22 and 27. On May 19, they raided junta staff-quarters in No. 5 Ward, detaining six junta employees and five of their family members. Other junta employees fled to Taungtha town.
“Both sides have suffered casualties in the fighting in Taungtha town. The clashes have also sparked fires,” said a resident, who reported a heavy junta presence in Taungtha.
In neighboring Myingyan Township, half an hour to the north, around 200 junta troops arrived by boat from Mandalay and Pakokku on May 26, bringing weapons and food supplies.
Coordinated attacks on 12 junta positions in Myingyan have killed at least 50 regime soldiers, police and allied Pyu Saw Htee militias, according to resistance groups participating in Operation 9/A Nyar Myae. They have put residents on alert for retaliatory junta air strikes.
Myingyan District, a resistance stronghold, lies between the junta’s airbases at Tada-U to the north and Meiktila to the south. It borders the townships of Mandalay, Tada-U, Kyaukse, Meiktila, Myaung, Sagaing, Yesagyo and Pakokku.
