Regime troops clashed with Mandalay People’s Defense Force (PDF) and other resistance fighters in Madaya Township, Mandalay Region on Wednesday amid junta efforts to reinforce its troops defending Madaya town.
Sources on the ground said the resistance forces launched an offensive to gain control of two villages in Madaya Township on Wednesday. The sources were unable to provide details of the latest situation as of Thursday morning, however.
Mandalay PDF spokesperson Ko Osmond told The Irrawaddy he did not have details on what specific steps the junta was taking to reinforce the town. “We are still assessing the situation. But it is confirmed that they are trying to send reinforcements to Madaya,” he added.
Mandalay PDF and other resistance groups based in Madaya Township launched their operations there on June 25 by attacking the 1014th Air Defense Battalion in Ingyin Myaing Village near the Sedawgyi Dam east of Madaya town. The offensive began on the same day that the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies launched Phase Two of their Operation 1027 in northern Shan State.
Madaya is a neighboring township of Mandalay city, and Madaya town is about an hour’s drive from the junta’s Central Command.
Over the past 36 days, Mandalay PDF and its allies have seized a total of 35 regime military bases and outposts in Madaya Township, Mandalay PDF said on Wednesday.
Two-thirds of Madaya town’s residents have left, most heading to Mandalay city or nearby villages where relatives are based, fearing the fighting will reach the town itself.
According to residents, Madaya’s streets are largely deserted, the only visible occupants being those who have chosen to stay to guard their properties.
“Two-thirds of the residents [have reportedly] left. But, I’m not sure if one-third of the residents [really] remain in the town or not. Whenever I leave my home, I just see empty roads and no one is around,” a remaining resident said.
He sent his family including his elderly parents to Mandalay in early July and has stayed at home to watch the situation. Although there have been no clashes in the town, explosions can be heard in surrounding areas almost every day, he said.
Residents said they have not seen any resistance forces in the town, and junta troops deployed around the town are preparing to defend it.
“The villagers around Madaya are in dire straits. First, they fled their homes to Madaya and now they have fled Madaya again for other places,” another resident who fled the town in June told The Irrawaddy.
In Mandalay city, military junta forces are strictly checking the entrance and exit points, especially the entrance gate that lies on the route from Madaya to Mandalay. Some of the usual routes that people from Madaya use to reach the town have been closed.
Meanwhile, National Unity Government Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than said the revolution had reached Mandalay and warned all sectors, including the administrative sector, to be prepared.
