Attacks by the Mandalay’s People’s Defense Force (PDF) have halted a junta convoy sent to reinforce its troops in Shan State, where the anti-regime Brotherhood Alliance has made sweeping gains in a weeklong offensive.
The junta is using the Pyin Oo Lwin-Nawngkio road to transport reinforcements, heavy weapons and ammunition to northern Shan State, where its troops are suffering heavy losses in the ethnic alliance’s ongoing Operation 1027, launched near the border with China.
At least three sections of the highway are controlled by resistance forces, local residents said.
Clashes erupted between the villages of Ohn Ma Thee and Ong Ma Hkar on Monday evening as a junta convoy from Pyin Oo Lwin advanced toward Nawngkio Township, Mandalay PDF said.
The PDF is the armed wing of the civilian National Unity Government.
“We attacked a junta convoy of around 20 vehicles and two armored vehicles. It was carrying reinforcements, rations and weapons,” a representative of Mandalay PDF said.
One of the armored vehicles was heavily damaged during the battle but resistance forces have been unable to seize it, he added.
Junta troops suffered casualties, but the death toll is still unknown amid continued fighting in the township on Thursday.
Video footage posted on Mandalay PDF’s Facebook page on Wednesday showed at least two dead junta soldiers and another two who were badly wounded.
Mandalay PDF said it provided medical care to two wounded junta soldiers who were captured during the fighting.
The resistance group acknowledged it had also suffered casualties in the fighting but declined to say how many.
Fellow resistance outfit Danu PDF urged civilians to also avoid the Lawksawk-Nawngkio road, which junta troops are using to transport reinforcements from southern to northern Shan State.
Junta warplanes have also conducted at least four airstrikes on resistance targets near villages along the highway, residents said.
“We are still hearing explosions and airstrikes. Electricity has been cut off since this [Thursday] morning,” a resident from Yae Mawng Tan village said.
Thousands of residents from five villages along the highway have fled in recent days.
“We abandoned our homes on Tuesday. Ohn Ma Khar and Hsam Ma Hse villages are also completely empty following an air raid warning from village administrators. Currently, I am staying at a relative’s home in Pyin Oo Lwin”, a resident of Ohn Ma Thee said.
The junta convoy remains stranded near Ohn Ma Khar village, where fighting is still ongoing, witnesses said.
Mandalay PDF launched “Operation Taungtaman” in upper Mandalay on Oct 27, in support of the Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027, launched on the same day.
The ethnic alliance, which is made up of the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), had seized nearly 90 junta bases and outposts as of Wednesday, according to the MNDAA.
