Fighting has intensified in the Sagaing Region towns of Tigyaing, Indaw and Pinlebu, where the junta is deploying air support for its besieged ground troops, according to resistance groups.
Combined forces of the People’s Defense Force (PDF), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), All Burma Students’ Democratic Front and local resistance groups launched an offensive in the three townships in mid-August. The targeted towns are in the civilian National Unity Government (NUG)’s Military Region 1.
In Indaw, a town bordering Kachin State on the Mandalay-Myitkyina road, resistance forces have seized the police station and general administration department since launching their offensive on Aug. 16. Junta troops from the 77th Light Infantry Division and allied Shan Nationalities Army (SNA) are defending from a hill at the town’s entrance and a nearby World War II-era underground hospital built by the Japanese.
“Residents have fled Indaw town as fighting rages,” said a member of Indaw People’s Defense Team.
“The regime has been conducting bombing raids and airdropping supplies since the fighting broke out. We have also captured junta soldiers and seized weapons from junta bases,” he said, adding that details are still emerging.
Allied forces captured Indaw’s fortified police station last Saturday, rescuing 16 detainees before torching the building.
Three civilians including a 13-year-old child were reportedly killed as the junta pounds the town with daily air and artillery strikes. The bombardment has also damaged buildings.
Resistance groups report suffering casualties in the fighting.
On Aug 16-17, resistance forces seized two junta bases at Nabar village on the Shwebo-Myitkyina road, 4 km from Indaw town.
They also captured junta posts in Mya Taung village, Tigyaing Township, 48 km from Indaw town. The resistance offensive is now focused on a junta checkpoint at an Irrawaddy River bridge linking Mya Taung and Tigyaing, as well as regime positions in Tigyaing town.
“Only five junta positions on hills remain in Tigyaing town. We have surrounded the town,” a Tigyaing People’s Defense Team member said.
Resistance forces had now captured the whole of eastern Tigyaing Township, he added.
Tigyaing Township borders Indaw, Wuntho, Kawlin and Katha townships in Sagaing Region as well as Thabeikkyin Township in Mandalay Region and Mabein Township in northern Shan State.
In Pinlebu, Kawlin District, anti-regime groups have captured most of the town’s junta positions since fighting began on Aug. 15.
However, around 200 junta personnel including SNA members and militias reportedly remain in the town, which the regime is fortifying with airlifts of troops and supplies.
“We have encircled and entered the town,” a member of Kawlin District People’s Defense Team said. “All junta positions have fallen except the police station. We are also intercepting reinforcements. But we still don’t fully control the town as fighting rages.”
Pinlebu is a small town by the Mu River linked only by a road to Wuntho.
Hundreds of vehicles are trapped on the Mandalay-Myitkyina road due to the fighting. On Aug. 16, resistance forces declared the road would be closed indefinitely.
A military analyst said Tigyaing, Indaw and Pinlebu were strategically important locations in northern Sagaing.
“The regime will do everything it can to defend those towns, he explained, adding that this had led to the indiscriminate and intense bombing raids.