Myanmar junta’s offensive west of Mandalay faces stiff resistance

Resistance forces in Mandalay Region’s Ngazun Township say they are continuing to successfully repel a major junta offensive launched more than a week ago. On Monday, a major clash broke out as regime forces advanced on Ngan Myar Gyi, a resistance-held town in the western part of the township, according to a member of the Zarmani Guerrilla Force, a local anti-junta group. The regime column was attempting to reach the town from the south on the Tada-U-Si Mee Khon road when it was intercepted and forced to retreat, the resistance fighter said. “As of today, the junta army has not been able to capture Ngan Myar Gyi. It is still under our control,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. The column is one of two that have been advancing on Ngan Myar Gyi since early last week. On October 8, the other column, approaching the town from the north on the Ngazun-Ngan Myar Gyi road, was ambushed with landmines, sources said. The next day, after reconnaissance planes flew over the area, the junta troops raided the village of Nyaunglebin, injuring two residents with artillery fire and taking at least 100 captive, according to a resident of the village who managed to escape. “Everyone rushed to the village monastery, where the troops captured everyone inside. They got more than 100 people, some of them just kids, 12 or 13 years old,” the villager said. It was unclear at the time of reporting whether the detained civilians have since been released, or if they are still being held. In addition to ground troops, the regime has also deployed military aircraft in its ongoing offensive in the area. During the fighting on Monday, an airstrike on the village of Moe Htaung, just south of Ngan Myar Gyi, killed a 20-year-old resistance fighter and injured four others, according to a Zarmani Guerrilla Force officer. Ngan Myar Gyi is situated on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River, opposite the resistance stronghold of Myaung in Sagaing Region. The village of Si Mee Khon, the site of an important naval port, is about six miles to the south. On August 19, resistance forces captured the police station in Ngan Myar Gyi as part of the Myingyan District Special Operation, an anti-junta offensive launched about a week earlier in several townships southwest of Mandalay. According to local residents, thousands of people have fled the area around Ngan Myar Gyi since the start of the regime’s current counteroffensive. Resistance forces say that despite its overwhelming show of force, the junta has made little progress over the past week and has suffered heavy losses. “They’ve deployed hundreds of trained soldiers, and have lost many already. But we are still in control of Ngan Myar Gyi,” said a member of a local resistance group. Ngazun Township was also the scene in June of the shooting death of Ashin Munindra Bhivamsa, a prominent senior monk based in Bago Region, by junta forces.The regime was later forced to admit that its troops were responsible for the incident, which it had initially blamed on resistance forces active in the area, after another monk who survived the attack disclosed what actually happened.

Myanmar junta’s offensive west of Mandalay faces stiff resistance

Anti-regime forces say they still hold a key town in Ngazun Township despite a massive show of force by Myanmar’s military

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