Junta takes control of more than half of Kawlin town, held for months by the resistance

The junta has gained control over more than half of Kawlin, the seat of the district in Sagaing Region by the same name that was captured by resistance forces in November. Fighting broke out around the town in the first days in February when the Myanmar army deployed some 800 soldiers to retake the area, which had been under the administration of the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) for more than two months. At the time of reporting, the military had established control over five of the town’s eight wards, according to a regional officer in the NUG’s People’s Defence Team (PDT) of Sagaing. “We still control three wards in the town and the outskirts,” the officer, Aw Zar, told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. “Both sides have experienced periods of pushing forward as well as retreats.” The military columns sent to reclaim the area came from Wuntho, 15 miles north of Kawlin, as well as Kanbalu, to the south. Aw Zar said that the 300-soldier unit from Wuntho was backed by heavy artillery fire and aerial attacks. This, he pointed out, helped them penetrate northern Kawlin. On Saturday, the regime announced they had regained control over the entire town in question, and local news site Kawlin Revolution said as much on Tuesday morning. However, resistance forces and members of Kawlin’s People’s Administration Team maintained that the fight for the town was ongoing. PDT officer Aw Zar said that the resistance in the area—which includes People’s Defence Force battalions, PDT troops, and local groups commanded by the Kachin Independence Army—was focussed on trying to cut off the 500-soldier junta column coming from the south. “With guerrilla warfare tactics, we are disrupting the enemy’s efforts to push forward.” The capture of Kawlin by these groups on November 6 last year following a four-day operation was considered a major victory. The military’s current attempt to reclaim the town follows the loss of dozens of other towns and hundreds of military posts in northern Shan State to the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations following a two-month offensive launched by those groups at the end of October. Unable to retake these sites from the Brotherhood, the junta has honed in on Kawlin, controlled by the NUG rather than ethnic forces. It is one of four towns occupied by the resistance in Sagaing, with Shwe Pyi Aye, Khampat, and Maw Lu being the others. Located on the banks of the Chindwin River, Shwe Pyi Aye was also in the junta’s sights at the time of reporting. The military, its militias, and the allied Shanni Nationalities Army have gathered hundreds of personnel who have been attacking the town for more than one week. Shwe Pyi Aye was initially seized by guerrilla groups in February 2023 but retaken by the military days later. In November, they forced the regime out again, holding the location even through a late January military offensive that lasted several days. On February 8, the junta struck the area again. “Shwe Pyi Aye is a hub connecting Tamu to the west with Pinlebu and Banmauk to the east,” a PDF fighter from upper Sagaing explained. “It is situated by the waterway. It holds strategic importance. They seem to be determined to fight back until they can regain control.” At the time of reporting, the NUG was continuing to administer services in Khampat and Maw Lu, where conditions were stable. While the junta attacked the Indian border town Khampat last December, they were forced by the resistance to retreat.

Junta takes control of more than half of Kawlin town, held for months by the resistance

As troops coming from the north penetrate the Sagaing town, resistance forces say they are holding on to three of Kawlin’s eight townships and disrupting military advances from the south

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