Rebel forces in central Myanmar captured nine junta army posts and opened a new offensive in three townships under junta control, they announced on Monday, in the latest setback for the ruling military after a string of battlefield losses since late last year.
An insurgent force under the umbrella of a civilian shadow administration, the National Unity Government, set up after a 2021 coup, captured the nine positions in the Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, the group, the Mandalay People’s Defense Force, said in a statement.
Thabeikkyin is on the Irrawaddy River, about 100 km (62 miles) north of the Mandalay city, Myanmar’s second-biggest city and the ancient seat of its kings and its cultural center.
The Mandalay People’s Defense Force, or PDF, had also launched offensives in Taungtha, Natogyi and Myingyan, three townships about 100 km southwest of Mandalay on Saturday, said a member of the force who declined to be identified for security reasons.
He said his forces had attacked a garment factory being used as a junta force stronghold, near a pipeline intended for natural gas going to China in Taungtha township before dawn on Monday.
PDF forces retreated in the afternoon after junta forces counter-attacked with airstrikes and shelling from a base in Myingyan town, he said.
“A bomb was dropped by a plane near the garment factory and another bomb was dropped at Hpa Yar Hla village because the junta thought there were People’s Defense Forces there,” he told Radio Free Asia.
“We retreated successfully, but one PDF soldier was hit in the stomach.”
RFA tried to call Mandalay region’s junta spokesperson, Thein Htay, for information on the fighting but he did not respond.
Sheltering in forests
Fighting in Natogyi has forced thousands of residents from their homes after the Mandalay PDF expanded its offensive early on Saturday when PDF fighters groups attacked a junta base near the town, residents said.
Some 10,000 people, or more than half the town’s population had fled, despite being warned by PDF groups that the roads out would be dangerous, they said.
“A lot of people in town have fled. Some went to several monasteries. In terms of percentage, it’s about 60% who’ve left,” said one resident, who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals.
“People in nearby villages are also worried and are sheltering in the forests. A lot of people who could afford to stay near Mandalay.”
The junta’s air force launched eight airstrikes and buildings in the town had been damaged. Both sides had suffered casualties, the resident said, though neither released any information about the battle.
Myanmar’s military, which ruled for decades before allowing a decade of tentative reforms before its 2021 coup, has faced unprecedented battlefield setbacks since late last year when pro-democracy PDFs and allied ethnic minority insurgents went on the offensive.
The junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, told state media on Aug. 5 that the military would recapture its lost bases and restore peace and stability to the entire country.
The Mandalay PDF has emerged as one of the country’s most effective pro-democracy insurgent groups, capturing, since June, Mogoke and Singu towns while fighting is going on in Madaya, Thabeikkyin, Patheingyi, Myingyan, Taungtha and Natogyi townships.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan.