Advancing Myanmar junta troops capture strategic village on road to Mogok

Junta forces advancing northward on the Nawnghkio-Mogok road in northern Shan State on Friday captured the strategic village of Doe Pin, Nawnghkio Township, according to local sources. Fighters of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Mandalay Region People’s Defence Forces (MDY-PDF), who had been stationed in Doe Pin, were forced to retreat from the village, according to the same sources, adding that further junta assaults continued farther up the road near Long Hkan village on August 18. “The army has captured Doe Pin and is pushing towards Long Hkan,” a man from another nearby village, Ho Hko, told Myanmar Now. “After they took Doe Pin, we could only hear artillery fire. The fighting has subsided since then, but the troops are likely to keep advancing till they reach Long Hkan.” The advancing junta troops have been steadily seizing villages since recapturing the town of Nawnghkio, northern Shan State from the TNLA last month. A week after the junta retook Nawnghkio, another column of junta troops deployed from the garrison town of Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region captured Nawnghkio Township’s Hsam Ma Hse village. Junta troops continued capturing other villages and positions over the next weeks—including Thone Se, Ho Hko, and the police station in Kone San—previously held by the anti-junta armed groups. Locals say the junta forces, along with allied “people’s militias”, have been relying heavily on air, artillery, and drone support during their advance, and that the resistance gradually withdrew on the road towards Mogok rather than maintain a robust defence. “I’m not sure if it was because the junta forces were large and better-armed, but the resistance didn’t put up a fierce defence,” a Thone Se resident said. “They fell back as the troops advanced, and the army has now moved beyond Doe Pin.” Doe Pin lies around 23 miles northwest of Nawnghkio and 27 miles south of Mogok, a town known for its gemstone production, Junta troops fighting in Mandalay Region have also taken control of Thabeikkyin west of Mogok, and are now positioned to advance on the town from two directions. Following the capture of Ho Hko, the military reportedly directed most residents from Ho Hko and Thone Se villages to return to their homes while sealing off the properties of residents suspected of collaborating with resistance forces, local civilians said. The TNLA said in a recent press release that they were protecting civilians in collaboration with other anti-junta forces. At the end of April this year, ceasefire talks held in Kunming, China between the TNLA and junta officials stalled when the TNLA refused the junta’s demand to return five cities under their control, including Mogok and Nawnghkio. After junta ground troops recaptured Nawnghkio in July, the junta air force has been bombing Mogok and other cities still under TNLA control.

Advancing Myanmar junta troops capture strategic village on road to Mogok

Locals said the regime’s infantry had been carrying out attacks on the road from Nawnghkio, a town the military captured from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)

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