Indian rebels fighting alongside Myanmar junta troops suffer heavy losses in northern Sagaing

A group of ethnic Meitei rebels allied to Myanmar’s military suffered heavy losses in an attack by resistance forces in Sagaing Region’s Kale Township last week, according to the National Unity Government (NUG). In a statement released on Tuesday, the NUG’s Military Region 1 command said its forces assaulted a unit of 10 Meitei fighters with drones in the village of Nan Han Nwet on September 15. The entire unit was wiped out and a junta major was injured in the attack, the statement claimed. According to resistance sources, Meitei troops began arriving in Kale Township in August after travelling south by boat along the Chindwin River from Homalin Township. Early the following month, resistance forces clashed with a junta column of around 130 troops, including Meitei fighters, as it advanced on Nan Saung Pu, a village about 14 miles north of the town of Kale. The fighting resulted in the capture of seven prisoners, including an Indian national identified as a member of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), an armed group fighting for the independence of the Indian state of Assam. Meitei rebels from the ULFA and other armed groups based in India have long collaborated with Myanmar’s military in border areas in northern Sagaing, especially in Tamu Township. “They have carried out joint military operations with the regime and are effectively members of the junta army,” a resistance fighter from Kale Township told Myanmar Now. A still from a video showing a drone attack on a Meitei armed group in Nan Han Nwet, a village in northern Kale Township, on September 15 (Photo: Military Region 1) According to the NUG’s Military Region 1, there are around 500 Meitei fighters, from an array of rebel groups, active in Sagaing Region. Many settled in He Zin, a village in Tamu Township, more than a decade ago. Some of the captured regimes forces have reported that a unit of nearly 30 troops under the command of a Meitei captain has been undergoing officer training in the town of Kale, according to the Military Region 1 command statement. In October of last year, the NUG captured a Meitei rebel who was handed over to the Indian government, along with the bodies of three others recovered following a battle in Nanmuntar, a village in Tamu Township. According to Salai Dokhar, founder of India for Myanmar, an advocacy group based in New Delhi, the strengthening ties between the regime and Indian separatist groups represents a growing threat to India’s security. “[The Indian government] is well aware that [the Meitei groups] are gaining combat experience by collaborating with the junta, and that they could use the weapons supplied by the military to act against the Indian government,” he said. Despite these concerns, India continues to back the regime in Naypyitaw, regarding it as an important partner for both its economic ambitions and regional security concerns. Late last month, following a meeting with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Tianjin, China, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Myanmar as “a vital pillar of India’s Act East and Neighbourhood First Policies,” pointing to cooperation in “areas like trade, connectivity, energy, rare earth mining and security.”

Indian rebels fighting alongside Myanmar junta troops suffer heavy losses in northern Sagaing

NUG-led forces say they wiped out an entire unit of ethnic Meitei fighters in a drone attack in Sagaing’s Kale Township last week

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