Myanmar junta continues advance towards Tagaung

Another village north of Thabeikkyin, Mandalay Region fell to regime forces earlier this week as the Myanmar military continued to push towards Tagaung, the last town under resistance control in the region, resistance sources said. A large force mobilised by the regime raided and succeeded in taking over the village of Shar Taw in Thabeikkyin Township, around three miles north of the recaptured village of Twin Nge, last Saturday. A locally-based resistance member told Myanmar Now that Shar Taw, which junta forces recaptured using drone strikes as well as ground manoeuvres, is strategically important due to its location on the Mandalay-Bhamo road, which runs along the east bank of the Ayeyarwady River. After taking Shar Taw, the junta is now pressing further north towards the village of Kyar Hnyat, on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady some 20 miles south of Tagaung, he added. “The junta column, advancing from Advanced Military Training Depot 13 in Twin Nge, is now approaching Kyar Hnyat. Shar Taw has fallen,” the resistance member confirmed on Tuesday. Since the first week of February, the column of ground forces based at the training depot has been closing the 30-mile distance between Twin Nge, a large village of more than a thousand households, and Tagaung, the second-most populous town in Thabeikkyin Township. Local sources confirmed that the troops have already established a base camp at Shar Taw, a village of around 400 households located some 18 miles north of Thabeikkyin and 24 miles south of Tagaung, before continuing their advance. The front in northern Mandalay Region The junta’s use of drone strikes in retaking Shar Taw reportedly prompted many of the village’s civilian inhabitants to flee their homes. Resistance forces commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government, including the Mandalay Region and Kyaukse District battalions of the People’s Defence Forces, currently control Tagaung and have vowed to defend it against the oncoming junta counteroffensive. “We have numerous, established positions in Tagaung. The town is not vulnerable to a quick capture, and we will not allow it to fall,” a resistance fighter said. Users on pro-junta propaganda channels on social media posted claims on Thursday that the junta was in full control of Shar Taw as well as the two neighbouring villages of Ba Nwe and Daung Pone, giving the military a route of direct access to Tagaung. Tagaung has been under resistance control since August 2024. Renowned as the site of a city-state that thrived during the Pyu period in the first millennium CE, the town is now home to people who predominantly earn their living from agriculture and livestock. It is also located near Tagaung nickel mining site, which remains under resistance control, on Mandalay Region’s border with Tigyaing Township, Sagaing Region. In late 2025, the junta regained control of wide swaths of territory seized by anti-junta groups in northern Shan State over the previous two years. Since recovering these areas, the regime has concentrated more of its ground forces and firepower on recapturing resistance-held townships in Mandalay Region.

Myanmar junta continues advance towards Tagaung

In an ongoing counteroffensive, the military is steadily recapturing villages between Thabeikkyin, Mandalay Region and the resistance-held town of Tagaung

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