Resistance forces have captured two junta battalions in Karenni State’s Hpasawng town and claimed responsibility for downing a junta aircraft that crashed in the defense effort.
Resistance forces seized Infantry Battalions 134 and 135 in Hpasawng town overseen by Regional Operations Command in Loikaw after more than a week of fighting, according to frontline sources.
“We captured both battalions today,” a resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “Relevant battalions will issue details later.”
The two posts are strategically located on National Highway 5 between Demoso and Hpasawng, said former captain Zin Yaw, a military defector. “Previously, we could not access the road to Hpasawng, Bawlakhe, and Mese townships, and now we have regained access,” he said.
Hpasawng had been under siege since a resistance offensive in February last year. The regime relied heavily on its air force to defend the town as it could not send reinforcements by road. It reportedly carried out dozens of airstrikes daily while a junta operational command in Bawlakhe town provided artillery support.
Free Burma Ranger (FBR), a humanitarian organization active in war zones and now in Hpasawng, identified different kinds of jet fighters—Y12, K8 , Yak 130, Mig 29, Su 30 and J 17 fighter jets—that the regime used during the battle, showing up every 15–30 minutes.
“The regime’s Y 12s were over the battlefield throughout the day and most of the night, dropping mortars as well as resupplying throughout the battle,” said an FBR member.
Karenni resistance forces claimed responsibility for shooting down one of them in Hpasawng on Tuesday, after the regime reported that one of its fighter jets had gone missing about 130 km southeast of the capital Naypyitaw but blamed mechanical failure or extreme weather.
The FTC-2000 G fighter jet lost contact with its base on Tuesday night as Karenni resistance forces were attacking the junta battalions in Hpasawng.
The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force shared pictures and a video of the wreckage near a village on the border of Karenni-Karen states and Bago Region.
Hpasawng Township is bordered by Mese and Bawlakhe to the east and north, and Karen State’s Papun and Thandaung townships to the south and west. Observers say it capture has paved the way for resistance forces to advance on Bawlakhe.
