wResistance groups led by the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have seized full control of Indaw, a northern Sagaing town near the Kachin State border, after eight months of fighting.
The KIA, People’s Defense Force (PDF) of the civilian National Unity Government, and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) had been attempting to capture the town since August last year.
The combined resistance force defeated Indaw’s last remaining junta base – a hill and underground World War II-era Japanese military hospital – in an assault on Monday.
The base overlooked the town and controlled the nearby Shwebo-Myitkyina highway leading to Katha and Maw Luu towns, according to a member of Katha PDF involved in its capture.
The joint resistance force seized Maw Luu, 34 km north of Indaw, in December last year.
“Junta fighter jets bombed from the air nonstop, so we resorted to a nighttime raid to seize the base. They [regime troops] suffered significant casualties, and we captured a large haul of weapons and ammunition,” a member of the joint resistance force told The Irrawaddy.
Photos released by the resistance groups show several howitzers, mortars and ammunition seized from the hill position.
Junta troops occupying the base had continued to strike surrounding resistance forces with artillery and drones despite the earthquake truce declared by the regime on April 2. Clashes intensified from April 1-3 as regime warplanes were deployed to defend the base.
Resistance forces reportedly captured numerous junta troops as the base fell. Resistance fighters were also lost in the Indaw offensive, they said.
Since the 2021 coup, the KIA has been training, supplying, and fighting alongside newly formed PDFS and other resistance groups in Kachin State, as well as Sagaing Region and northern Shan State.
To date, the KIA and allied forces have seized over 300 junta outposts and bases in Kachin State. They also control around 15 towns and the former Kachin State Special Region 1, a rare-earth mining hub along the Chinese border. The KIA has also captured two towns in northern Shan State.
