Around 50,000 residents displaced from the first district-level town seized by Myanmar resistance forces have been barred from returning due to the threat of junta airstrikes, the Kawlin Revolution Team reported on Tuesday.
A combined force of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Arakan Army, and People’s Defense Force launched its attack on junta bases in Kawlin, a district-level town in Sagaing Region, on Friday. They took the town on Monday after overrunning its police station, a school occupied by junta troops and the Kawlin Township People’s Administration office, according to the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).
Residents have fled the town and are under the care of the township people’s administration, the Kawlin Revolution Team reported.
Junta fighter jets and Mi-35 helicopter gunships attacked Kawlin town and nearby Phalae village during the four-day battle, killing three residents and wounding around 100, locals said.
Shelling by the junta’s Battalion 120, based in neighboring Wuntho Township, also caused civilian casualties.
The Kawlin Revolution Team estimates that around 10 civilian corpses were left in the town. However, details of civilian casualty numbers were still unknown at press time.
The fighting has also cut transport routes and left the local population stranded.
“Basic food, oil, fuel, medicine and blankets are needed for displaced residents due to communication and transportation disruptions,” the Kawlin Revolution Team said.
The battle had also inflicted heavy damage on the town, it added.
Kawlin’s phone and internet connection was cut by junta forces on Friday and has still not been restored, a resident from neighboring Kantbalu Township said.
“We are trying to contact relatives in Kawlin but have not been successful yet,” the Kantbalu local told The Irrawaddy.
He said that junta reinforcements left Kantbalu on the road to Kawlin on Tuesday morning.
The Kawlin assault was part of simultaneous resistance attacks launched in eight townships across Sagaing and Magwe Region on Friday. The NUG announced that it was part of “Operation 1027”, the ongoing offensive launched in northern Shan State on Oct. 27 by the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance, comprising the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army.
