A Myanmar junta airstrike on Tuesday responded to heavy losses at the hands of the anti-regime All Burma Students’ Democratic Front and Indaw People’s Defence Force (PDF) in the north of Sagaing Region, according to resistance groups.
An Indaw PDF spokesman said: “The airstrike didn’t injure any civilians as they left their homes in March. Two of our fighters suffered critical injuries.”
About 100 Light Infantry Division 77 troops occupied Mawteik village tract in Indaw Township, Sagaing Region, earlier this year, displacing over 6,500 residents.
On Monday the troops from Mawteik joined around 100 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 461 and headed to Banmauk Township.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has ceased operations in the area, allowing junta troops to seize territory, according to residents who fled into the forest.
All Burma Students and Indaw PDF ambushed the junta forces near Nant Thar village on Monday morning and fighting continued into Tuesday, leaving at least 15 junta soldiers dead and many injured, according to the PDF. The group said it was the heaviest fighting in the area since the 2021 coup.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
The PDF spokesman said the junta responded with shelling and two fighter jets dropped bombs, injuring two PDF members.
The airstrike destroyed Ywar Thar Ywar village’s monastery, which had been abandoned months ago.
In mid-December, the KIA and Kachin and Indaw PDFs started attacking junta troops in Indaw Township and the regime responded by killing four civilians and burning six villages.
