Myanmar’s regime administration has ceased in Myingyan and Natogyi towns in Mandalay Region during the anti-regime “Myingyan District Special Operation” by several resistance groups.
On Saturday and Monday attacks were launched in Natogyi and Taung Tha towns in which several regime positions were defeated, Myingyan People’s Defense Force (PDF) told The Irrawaddy.
Following the resistance attacks, the junta has stopped its administration at the nearby district-level town of Myingyan but has fortified the town.
A resident said he went to Myingyan general administration department for citizenship verification but it was closed.
A PDF member told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “Myingyan hospital is closed and all patients were sent home by the junta. Hospital staff were sent to Pakokku [in Magwe Region]. Most civil servants have left.”
The regime is reportedly fortifying Myingyan, taking positions at the hospital, a home for the aged and elsewhere in the town, and surrounding villages are being shelled.
On Monday morning, resistance forces in Taung Tha town, 21km south of Myingyan, overran three regime targets, including a supply station on the Chinese oil and gas pipelines. Regime forces retreated to Myingyan, abandoning their notorious checkpoint on the Myingyan-Taung Tha road, according to residents.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
On Friday the Taung Tha General Strike Committee, which monitors regime action in the township, said junta-controlled government departments, except for the administrative department, police station and fire department, have closed in the town.
A Natogyi PDF member said all regime staff had left Natogyi.
Last weekend resistance groups briefly seized the town, apart from the police station, before retreating during junta airstrikes, according to Natogyi PDF.
Resistance groups also seized a junta position guarding another pipeline supply station east of the town. Natogyi PDF said it and its allies killed over 30 regime troops, detained three soldiers and seized around 27 weapons and ammunition during the operation in Natogyi town.
A resistance fighter was killed. Around 200 junta troops later retook the town.
The junta has been carrying out airstrikes and shelling villages in Natogyi, Taung Tha and Myingyan townships, residents said.
“We don’t dare to sleep as junta aircraft are hovering and bombing villages in our area every night. Junta bases also shell villages at night,” said a villager near the border between Taung Tha, Natogyi and Myingyan townships.
Many rural areas of Myingyan District have been under resistance control for years with junta administration restricted to the towns, according to residents.
Resistance groups frequently conduct security checks on vehicles on the main roads outside the towns in Natogyi, Taung Tha and Myingyan townships.
