Myanmar resistance forces report they are just one step away from seizing the strategic town of Moebye on Shan State’s southern border with Karenni (Kayah) State.
Combined Karenni resistance forces launched the anti-regime Operation 1111 on Nov. 11, attacking junta troops stationed in Moebye as well as the Karenni State capital Loikaw.
The operation – which is being conducted by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, Karenni Army, Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, and People’s Defense Forces under the command of the National Unity Government – has made significant progress over the past month.
Moebye is strategically located on a major supply route to Loikaw, 25 kilometers to the southeast.
The Irrawaddy and other news media arrived in Moebye on November 12 to cover the fighting. Reporters first visited a village occupied by the Moebye People’s Defense Force (PDF), where weapons seized from junta troops were displayed.
Items on display included the flag of Infantry Battalion 248, ammunition, military uniforms, a 60 mm mortar, a machine gun, landmines, and mortar shells, reflecting the success of combined Karenni resistance forces.
Information officer Ko Michael of Moebye Battalion 2 said the weapons showcased were seized after junta troops withdrew from Moebye market.
“We engaged with the enemy in some places while junta troops abandoned their outposts in others. We have now taken control of some 75 percent of Moebye town. Only [the junta positions of] Set Taw Yar Mountain and Battalion 422 are left [to be taken],” he said.
As The Irrawaddy left the village, a blue regime jet fighter was spotted flying over Moebye. Reporters hid in a ditch and waited for the warplane to leave before traveling on to the town.
To enter Moebye, we had to take a back road east of Set Taw Yar Mountain, where junta troops are stationed. Revolutionary forces warned us to stay alert as troops in the mountain outpost target passing vehicles with machine-gun fire.
We arrived in the town to find that Karenni resistance forces had occupied the wards of Done Du Htan, Pwe Gon 1, Pwe Gon 3, Wari Su Falai, and Nyaung Wyne, as well as Moebye Market, after junta troops abandoned their positions.
Resistance fighters seized a junta outpost located at a house in Wari Su Falai on November 12. Water in a vacuum flask left at the outpost was still warm when resistance forces arrived, suggesting that junta soldiers had fled soon before, said a resistance member.
In Moebye Market, shops had been broken open and turned upside down. Residents were leaving the town. Members of the Moebye Rescue Team were advising them on secure escape routes.
The town was no longer safe as junta troops were pounding residential areas with artillery.
At least five civilians had been killed in the shelling by the time we arrived in Moebye.
We visited two houses where civilians were killed by artillery strikes.
One house was badly damaged with holes in the roof and collapsed walls.
A smell of putrefying flesh permeated its rooms and bloodstains were visible on the walls and floor. The fin of a mortar shell was found in the bedroom.
The regime has also planted mines in some areas of the town. Resistance forces have advised civilians to evacuate temporarily because of potential air and artillery attacks by regime troops.
The mainly ethnic Kayan and Inthar population have abandoned the town, with Kayan people taking refuge in areas controlled by allied Karenni resistance forces, and Inthar people fleeing to Shan State.
Only allied Karenni resistance forces are left in Moebye. Some were strolling with their guns shouldered, apparently energized by their military victory.
Soon after we left Moebye, Karenni resistance forces attacked the junta outpost on Set Taw Yar Mountain. “The fighting was intense and it took two days to reach the mountain position,” said Lieutenant Nay Kaung, a spokesman for Operation 1111.
“Comrades were resolute. We suffered casualties. Junta troops had prepared strong defenses on Set Taw Yar. We had to fight for two days but we learned a lot from the fighting,” he said.
Resistance forces report that 11 junta soldiers and nine Karenni resistance members were killed in the fighting.
Junta troops have been cleared from most of Moebye, except for artillery battalion 422 in the north of the town, said Lt. Nay Kaung. Resistance forces have laid siege to the battalion, the last obstacle in their mission to seize the town and surrounding village tract.
Time will tell if allied forces finally seize all of Moebye, or if the regime launches a counterattack to regain control of the town.
