Myanmar’s military has abandoned at least two outposts in Sagaing Region in recent days, in a possible sign of the regime’s growing defensiveness amid a series of major defeats over the past two weeks.
Last Friday, around 100 junta troops stationed at a camp on the western bank of the Chindwin River in Yinmabin Township withdrew to Monywa, according to a local resistance group.
Monywa, the region’s capital, is on the eastern side of the river and is also where the headquarters of the Northwestern Regional Military Command is located.
“They were there collecting timber for the past few months. Now they’ve left, maybe because of the military’s heavy losses in northern Shan State,” said Jordan, spokesperson for the Union Defence Front, a Yinmabin-based resistance group.
Regime forces have lost control of several towns and scores of outposts, mostly in areas of Shan State bordering China, since an alliance of ethnic armed groups launched a major offensive there late last month.
Earlier this week, resistance forces also captured the towns of Kawlin and Khampat, both located in relatively remote areas of Sagaing Region, as other anti-regime groups sought to take advantage of the military’s apparent state of disarray.
According to Jordan, thousands of local civilians were displaced by the soldiers stationed at the Yinmabin camp. He said some were taken hostage and used as human shields, while many others saw their property, including vehicles and livestock, destroyed.
But the junta troops were also ambushed at least eight times, he added.
On Saturday, another outpost in Khin-U Township was also suddenly abandoned, according to an officer from the Khin-U Special Force Organisation (KSO), a local resistance group.
The outpost, manned by around 30 soldiers, had been set up near the intersection of the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line and the highway linking Khin-U to Ye-U to provide security for military logistics convoys, said Lin Yaung, the KSO officer.
“They might have been worried that the revolutionary forces would attack their base next after capturing Ma Gyi Tone,” he told Myanmar Now, referring to a nearby village that served as a local stronghold of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia.
The soldiers reportedly left the outpost for Ye-U by car, passing through Inpat, another village about 3km away that still has a heavy military presence.
According to Captain Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar army officer who defected to the resistance after the military seized power in February 2021, the regime is planning a mass redeployment of troops to northern Shan State to prevent further losses there.
“They’re going to mobilise the entire 10th Military Operations Command. They’re also going to use their forces from Sagaing and Naypyitaw. I got this information from very reliable sources,” he said.
The 10th Military Operations Command is based near Kalay, in western Sagaing. On Saturday, dozens of junta soldiers and police reportedly travelled to the command centre after abandoning a heavily defended police station that had come under attack in Magway Region’s Gangaw Township.
“Their priority now is to protect the command battalions, so they’re going to use more troops from the urban townships. They can’t focus on offence anymore,” said Captain Zin Yaw.
