Daily battles have recently plagued eastern Mogok Township, Mandalay Region, as the junta attempts to regain control of two bases seized by joint resistance forces under the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the People’s Defence Force (PDF).
The camps in question are located near the villages of Nyaung Kone and Kone San, with the most intense fighting occurring for at least four days as of Sunday.
Some 200 Myanmar army soldiers started attacking TNLA and PDF posts near Nyaung Kone at noon on October 12, with fighting continuing into the evening and throughout the days that followed. At least two PDF members were injured.
“We are fighting them tooth and nail right now from the bases that we previously seized,” said La Yaung, who commands Battalion 1223 of the PDF chapter in Mogok.
At the time of reporting, the resistance group, which fights under the mandate of the National Unity Government, had maintained control of the sites in question with the support of the TNLA, an ethnic armed organisation based in northern Shan State and active in parts of neighbouring Mandalay Region.
A member of another PDF unit, Battalion 1221, was killed during the clashes to defend the bases, according to a statement from the force.
The TNLA and Battalions 1221 and 1223 of the PDF overran the two junta camps in mid-September as part of Operation Moe Lone Hmine, Burmese for “overcast sky.” The advance was launched with the seizure of the Kone San village military camp. At that time, the village’s 300 residents fled into the surrounding forests and Mogok town.
More than 500 people from around Nyaung Kone were displaced over the weekend by the most recent fighting, a local from Kone San told Myanmar Now.
“The Nyaung Kone villagers had to flee to Mogok this afternoon,” the man said on Sunday. “Some fled to nearby farms while some fled to other villages where their relatives live as the military was firing heavy artillery shells at the village day and night.”
Three civilians, including a five-year-old child, were killed and four more injured in junta ground and aerial attacks in the Mogok area since early September
