The junta suffered heavy casualties and the capture of nearly 30 troops in clashes with People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in Katha Township in northern Sagaing Region over the weekend.
Fierce clashes broke out when around 200 junta troops from the Katha town-based Light Infantry Battalion advanced on rural parts of the township controlled by resistance forces.
“The fighting was quite fierce,” a member of the Katha PDF said. “It went on for a whole day and the following afternoon with continuous artillery strikes. We captured injured soldiers as well as their weapons, and some surrendered to us.”
Around 40 junta soldiers and two resistance fighters died in the fighting, according to resistance forces. Twenty-nine junta soldiers were captured or surrendered.
The Irrawaddy was unable to verify the regime casualties independently.
A viral video shows detained regime troops saying they were forcibly recruited to fight for the regime.
Light Infantry Battalion 309 is the only junta base in Katha town, but the regime has reinforced it with more troops since the coup. Still more reinforcements were airlifted to the battalion over the past few months, according to the Katha PDF.
Resistance forces estimate that between 300 and 400 junta soldiers, police, and aligned Pyu Saw Htee militias are deployed there now. Some of them were involved in recent fighting in Indaw some 30 km away.
Combined forces of the Kachin Independence Army from over the border in Kachin State, the All Burma Students Democratic Front, and PDFs launched an onslaught on Indaw in August last year.
Most of the township has fallen, except a hill with an old underground hospital where junta troops have dug in.
The hill strategically overlooks Indaw town and the section of the Shwebo-Myitkyina road leading south to Katha and north to Mawlu on the Kachin border.
“There has been a pause in fighting in Indaw,” a resistance fighter said. “We can’t touch the hill, but we have seized all the outposts and deployments guarding it.”
Although resistance forces have cut off junta reinforcements from Katha to Indaw, heavy artillery and air support by the regime deter them from advancing on the hill.
But there have been frequent clashes outside Katha town as junta troops venture out on reconnaissance missions.
