Myanmar army launches offensive to retake Maw Luu from resistance

The junta has launched an operation to recapture the town of Maw Luu in Sagaing Region’s Indaw Township which had been under resistance fighters’ control since December 13, sources in the town said. According to a member of the anti-junta forces, on the afternoon of February 20 resistance fighters intercepted a column of around 200 soldiers and militia members near Pin Wei village, located some eight miles south of Maw Luu on the road to Indaw. A two-hour battle ensued between the pro-junta forces—including members of the junta-trained Pyu Saw Htee militias and the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), a military-allied ethnic armed group—and the resistance forces—comprising members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Kachin People’s Defence Forces (Kachin PDF). During the clash, a junta army unit stationed in Indaw fired close to 50 heavy artillery shells onto the battlefield, the resistance source said. The clash reportedly ended with the pro-junta forces withdrawing to the village of Na Bar, one of their strongholds in the area. A member of the Kachin PDF’s Battalion 6 sustained injuries, the resistance source told Myanmar Now, and a civilian woman passing near the area of fighting on a motorcycle was reportedly shot dead during the battle by the pro-junta forces. The resistance source told Myanmar Now that the fighting appeared to have caused casualties on the junta side, but it was not possible for the resistance forces to confirm the number. A local man in his 20s connected with the Indaw PDF said the pro-junta forces retreating from the battle had returned to Na Bar with some soldiers wounded and in need of treatment. Pin Wei village, the site of the clash, is located around 10 miles from Na Bar, a transport hub three miles north of Indaw that has been a junta stronghold since early 2023. The column of 200 pro-junta troops was stationed there before starting their advance towards Maw Luu. Na Bar is situated at an intersection of roads connecting Indaw with the larger town of Katha, Sagaing Region and the small town of Nam See Awng in Kachin State. Late last year, PDF fighters commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) and their allies successfully captured the towns of Maw Luu, Shwe Pyi Aye, Khampat and Kawlin in Sagaing Region. However, in early February the Myanmar army succeeded in retaking Kawlin, a district-level administrative centre, from the resistance forces. With Kawlin under its control again, the regime is now attempting to recapture Shwe Pyi Aye—located on the Chindwin River in western Sagaing Region less than 10 miles from the India-Myanmar border—as well as Maw Luu. According to the latest census taken in Myanmar a decade ago, the Maw Luu village tract was home to more than 11,000 residents in 2014. In addition to the ABSDF and PDF fighters under the command of the NUG, members of the powerful ethnic armed group Kachin Independence Army participated in the capture of Maw Luu in December. Since launching the anti-junta Operation 1027 offensive in late October, the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations has taken full control of more than a dozen towns in Rakhine and northern Shan States from the military. Rather than attempting to retake the towns lost to the Brotherhood Alliance, however, the military regime appears to be prioritising the recapture of towns controlled by NUG-commanded resistance forces.

Myanmar army launches offensive to retake Maw Luu from resistance

Having recaptured Kawlin, junta forces are now concentrating their efforts on taking back a town on the Sagaing Region-Kachin State border held by ABSDF and Kachin PDF fighters

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