People’s Defense Force groups (PDFs) resumed their offensive against the last junta position in Indaw town in northern Sagaing Region on Monday, nearly three months after they were forced to halt their assault when regime forces took civilian hostages as human shields.
The PDFs, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front and local resistance groups launched a joint offensive in Indaw, Tigyaing and Pinlebu towns in mid-August.
In Indaw, which borders Kachin State on the Mandalay-Myitkyina Road, resistance forces seized the police station and General Administration Department office after launching their offensive on Aug. 16.
Junta forces from the 77th Light Infantry Division and allied Shan Nationalities Army (SNA) retreated to a World War II-era underground hospital and an adjacent Buddhist monastery, from where they mounted a defense against the resistance attack.
Around 800 civilians who had taken shelter at the monastery were trapped by the fighting and subsequently used by the regime as human shields to deter the resistance attacks. At least two were killed and a dozen injured by junta aerial bombing and shelling that struck near the monastery during the fighting.
Fighting resumed for a couple of days in early November, when around 200 residents managed to flee. Since then, there had been no fighting until the resistance forces resumed their attack on Monday.
A source on the ground told The Irrawaddy on Monday: “The fighting renewed early this morning. It was fierce with continuous artillery shelling. [Resistance groups] have been fighting for Indaw for a long time, and it appears that they are launching the final battle. [The regime] responded with airstrikes.”
Hundreds of civilians remain trapped at the monastery, according to residents.
One Indaw resident said on Monday: “The regime has bombed [the town] at least eight times. The town is deserted. It was almost flattened in previous clashes. I am afraid there is nothing left in the town to destroy.”