Emboldened resistance initiates offensive targeting junta bases in Myanmar heartland

Armed resistance groups assaulted Myanmar army bases in three townships southwest of Mandalay over the weekend, targeting several key junta positions in the country’s centre, resistance sources said. With the assaults in Myingyan, Natogyi, and Taungtha townships, the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government launched an offensive campaign intended to weaken the Myanmar military further after a recent series of significant junta defeats. Earlier this month, the military regime lost control of Lashio, northern Shan State, to opposing forces. The city, which is the largest city and administrative capital of northern Shan State, is located on key China-Myanmar trade routes and is the site of the military’s Northeastern Regional Military Command headquarters, which oversaw the army’s operations in an area home to various ethnic armed organisations. Map of central Myanmar showing locations of recent clashes The PDF fighters’ escalation of offensive operations in Mandalay Region is a response to the fall of Lashio, which due to its economic and strategic significance was widely seen as a sign of the junta’s weakening grip on power in Myanmar. Resistance fighters launched their first attacks at dawn on Saturday on a police station and various junta bases in Natogyi Township, including a security checkpoint. Natogyi is located some 60 miles southwest of Mandalay on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River. The PDF reportedly carried out simultaneous attacks on junta positions in Mandalay Region’s Taungtha and Myingyan townships, also located on the Ayeyarwady’s east bank. While the west bank of the river has become a resistance stronghold due to its lower level of development and navigability, resistance forces have rarely had opportunities to launch assaults on the east bank. Resistance forces, now operating only 100 miles from the junta’s administrative capital of Naypyitaw, have perceived a narrowing gap in military capabilities between them and the regime forces due to the military’s debilitated state. Wan Moe, a PDF commander in central Myanmar, confirmed the launch of the resistance offensive and said it had continued into Monday. “We attacked a police station in Taungtha as well as a Pyu village just this morning,” he said on Monday, referring to a village held by junta-trained militias called the Pyu Saw Htee. “We captured some Pyu members.” PDF fighters also reportedly attacked a power substation around 10 miles south of Taungtha on Saturday morning. In Natogyi, the junta carried out airstrikes targeting the resistance forces. “They hit the western part of Natogyi, near Aye Monastery,” said a Natogyi Township resident, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “Starting at 1:50pm, they flew over three times. They dropped five bombs twice, and a jet fighter also made a pass overhead, firing off its machine gun.” Despite the intense fighting and airstrikes, most civilian residents have remained in their homes in Natogyi Township, according to the local resident. “With the constant airstrikes, people are too scared to leave their homes,” the Natogyi Township resident said. “Only a few brave individuals dare to go out. Those who could relocate easily have left, but the rest of us are stuck indoors, afraid to step outside. The streets are completely deserted.” The full extent of civilian casualties from the aerial bombardment is still unknown. Posts on pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram claimed that a junta sergeant and local junta-appointed administrator were killed and four members of the pro-junta militia were captured during the attack on the power station in Taungtha, which took place around 5am on Saturday. The same morning, resistance forces also attacked Son village, Myingyan Township, the location of a base manned by junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee militia members, according to the PDF based in Myingyan. “We penetrated deep into the Pyu Saw Htee village, but we had to withdraw after losing one of our comrades,” a Myingyan PDF spokesperson said. Clashes between junta troops and resistance forces, including attacks on Pyu Saw Htee base camps, have been ongoing in Myingyan District—which includes Myingyan, Natogyi, and Taungtha townships—since early July. PDF troops have also intensified their attacks on junta camps elsewhere in Mandalay Region, capturing the town of Singu and taking control of junta outposts in the towns of Patheingyi and Madaya north of Mandalay. Planned evacuations of Mandalay Region townships In response to the escalating clashes between junta and resistance forces, regime-controlled ministries in Naypyitaw have issued directives to plan for the rapid relocation of civil service staff in Mandalay Region, and the regime’s administrative offices are scrambling to prepare. The junta’s settlement and land records department in Mandalay Region—which operates as part of the junta’s agriculture and irrigation ministry—has ordered its branch offices in Pyin Oo Lwin and Patheingyi townships to draw up emergency plans for moving staff and vital documents to safer locations. While civil servants confirmed receiving the order, they expressed concern about the lack of concrete instructions or support from government authorities in the evacuations. “They’re primarily focused on maintaining the administrative machinery, not prioritising the lives and well-being of the staff,” a Mandalay-based official said. The situation mirrors recent events in northern Shan State, where civil servants were forced to flee with minimal support, leaving behind essential documents and arriving in Naypyitaw with no provisions made for their housing. Meanwhile, local civilians in the Mandalay area are stockpiling supplies and preparing for potential violence as battles spread closer to the city. The escalating violence has also prompted an exodus from Pyin Oo Lwin Township, the location of the military’s premier officer training academies.

Emboldened resistance initiates offensive targeting junta bases in Myanmar heartland

As People’s Defence Force fighters launched an offensive operation in townships southwest of Mandalay, the military regime issued evacuation directives to its departmental staff in the region’s cities

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