Myanmar junta retakes Tagaung, Mandalay Region’s last resistance stronghold

Tagaung, a strategically important town in northern Mandalay Region’s Thabeikkyin Township, has fallen to regime forces after more than a year and a half under resistance control, military sources familiar with the situation have confirmed. The town, located on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River some 130 miles north of the city of Mandalay, was the last major stronghold of anti-junta forces in the region. “I can confirm that Tagaung has fallen. They entered in full force this morning,” a source based in the area told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. The regime’s offensive to retake the town began in early February, when it deployed columns of soldiers from a training base in Twin Nge, a village about 30 miles to the south. By the middle of the month, the columns had advanced to Shar Taw, a large village on the Mandalay-Bhamo highway that serves as a statistics hub for the area. On February 17, pro-regime social media accounts claimed the junta forces had retaken Shar Taw and the nearby villages of Banwet and Daungpone. By March 3, the columns had seized Min Kone, a village around 12 miles south of Tagaung, and over the next three days advanced another six miles, taking the villages of Letpankone and Yae Yin. By Monday, they were within two miles of Tagaung, and early the next morning, they entered the town in massive numbers and achieved full occupation. The fall of Tagaung comes despite a massive effort by resistance forces to retain control. Forces led by the National Unity Government (NUG) captured the town in August 2024, at the height of Operation 1027, an anti-junta offensive launched in October 2023. Since late last year, the regime has moved to retake territory north of Mandalay. In November, it regained control over Madaya Township, and the following month it recaptured Singu, some 80 miles south of Tagaung. Throughout its offensive, the regime has relied heavily on airstrikes and drone attacks, as well as ground troops and heavy artillery, to bring overwhelming force to bear on groups opposed to its rule. According to Naung Yoe, a former Myanmar military officer who has defected to the resistance, the regime will likely use the capture of Tagaung to extend its control over the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River. “If they have taken Tagaung, I believe they will start preparing to assert dominance over both sides of the Ayeyarwady River, all the way to areas like Bhamo and Shwegu” in Kachin State, he said. “The military council’s tactical objective appears to be cutting off communication, military supply lines, and administrative routes along sections of the Ayeyarwady bordering Kachin State, northern Shan areas, and upper Sagaing Region,” he added. In Sagaing Region, the NUG still controls several towns west of the Ayeyarwady River, including Indaw, Maw Luu, and Pinlebu, which have also been targeted by deadly airstrikes. In Mandalay Region, however, the NUG’s influence is now limited to rural areas outside of the main towns, according to Naung Yoe. “Mandalay Region is now devoid of any resistance-controlled foothold towns,” he said.

Myanmar junta retakes Tagaung, Mandalay Region’s last resistance stronghold

The regime is expected to use the town to extend its control over the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River

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