Another town falls to anti-regime forces in northern Sagaing

Resistance forces in northern Sagaing Region’s Indaw Township say they have taken control of Maw Luu, a town on the Mandalay-Myitkyina highway near the border with Kachin State. The town was captured at around 6am on Wednesday, four hours after a coalition of anti-regime groups launched an assault on the local police station, sources from two of the groups involved told Myanmar Now. Six junta soldiers and police were killed in the attack and another six were taken prisoner, according to an officer of the Indaw Township People’s Defence Force (PDF), which operates under the command of Myanmar’s civilian National Unity Government (NUG). “We also seized a lot of weapons and ammunition. We’re still conducting area-clearing operations,” said the PDF officer, adding that there were around 30 junta personnel at the station when the attack began. About an hour after the fighting ended, a junta aircraft dropped two bombs on Maw Luu’s market, according to locals. The military also fired heavy artillery at the town, they added. Residents of the town, which has a population of nearly 9,000 inhabitants, said they waited until daybreak before escaping to neighbouring villages. “We started hearing weapons go off at around 2am. We didn’t dare go outside, so we waited until sunrise to flee. We’re still afraid to go back,” said one displaced resident. According to an officer of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), the attack was carried out as a last resort. “We warned them a month ago to surrender. More than 100 government staff—not including police or soldiers—have defected since then. We had to attack the holdouts because they were too stubborn to surrender,” said the ABSDF officer. Troops from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and several local defence teams also took part in the attack, sources told Myanmar Now. Maw Luu is the fourth town in Sagaing Region to fall to anti-regime forces since early last month. The first was Kawlin, the administrative centre of Kawlin District in north-central Sagaing, which was captured on November 6. A day later, the NUG announced that PDF and KIA troops had seized control of Khampat, a town in Tamu Township located on Myanmar’s northwestern border with India. On November 22, resistance forces took over Shwe Pyi Aye, a small town located about 120km northeast of Khampat in Homalin Township. Resistance forces in neighbouring Chin State have also taken control of three towns since they captured Rikhawdar, a commercial hub on the Indian border, on November 13. Fighting has intensified in many parts of the country since the start of Operation 1027, an offensive launched by an alliance of ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State in late October. Attacks carried out by the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance have resulted in the regime’s loss of at least half a dozen towns and more than 200 bases and outposts along the Chinese border. Talks held last week in China have done little to ease the pressure on Myanmar’s military, with anti-regime forces vowing to fight on until the junta that seized power in a coup nearly three years ago is overthrown.

Another town falls to anti-regime forces in northern Sagaing

Maw Luu is the fourth town to be captured in Sagaing Region in little over a month

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