Hundreds of junta troops attempt to retake Kawlin town from resistance

Fierce fighting has followed a major deployment of junta troops trying to retake the district seat of Kawlin, a Sagaing Region town seized by the resistance three months ago and currently under the administration of the publicly mandated National Unity Government. Representatives of the Kawlin People’s Defence Force (PDF) told Myanmar Now that the regime had deployed more than 800 soldiers over the past week to recapture the area.. “Fighting has been intensifying since Monday morning,” a Kawlin PDF member said. “They are advancing from two directions, deploying at least five columns of battalion troops to besiege the town, backed by aerial assaults and shelling.” In the first days of February, three junta columns closed in from Kanbalu Township, to the south, arriving at the villages of Nyaung Pin Thar and War Khon, while another two columns from Wuntho Township, to the north, headed towards Pay Kone and Min Kone villages. At the time of reporting, the military units were near the villages and just over one mile outside of Kawlin town, where they were intercepted by resistance forces. “At present, [the junta troops] are unable to move closer to the town. Yesterday, they also deployed an Mi-35 combat helicopter during the clashes,” a source close to the Kawlin PDF said on Wednesday. He also claimed that at least three villages had been burnt down by the junta troops since the onset of fighting. More than 25,000 residents from Kawlin town and the surrounding villages reportedly fled their homes on February 1, anticipating renewed battles. A local from Kawlin told Myanmar Now on Wednesday that he had heard that fighting had been ongoing for five days. “Yesterday, junta warplanes carried out at least two airstrikes, dropping 500-pound bombs,” he said. On November 6, Kawlin became the first district seat town in Sagaing Region to be seized from the military by joint forces that included the Kachin Independence Army, Arakan Army (AA), Kawlin PDF and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front. The advance was coordinated with Operation 1027, launched in late October by the Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the AA, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army against the military in northern Shan State. Since Kawlin was overtaken by anti-junta forces, the Myanmar army’s light infantry battalions based in Wuntho Township have been firing heavy artillery at the town. In early January, at least two people were killed and seven injured by this shelling, according to local sources.

Hundreds of junta troops attempt to retake Kawlin town from resistance

The town was seized from the military by resistance forces in November, but clashes are intensifying as newly deployed junta columns advance toward the district seat in upper Sagaing

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