Myanmar military moves to take last resistance-held town in Mandalay Region

The Myanmar military has initiated a large-scale offensive to recapture Tagaung, Thabeikkkyin Township, the last town in Mandalay Region still controlled by National Unity Government (NUG) resistance forces, according to sources at the front. A large column of junta soldiers set out for the town from a training base near Twin Nge village, Thabeikkyin Township on February 6, according to a source based in Singu Township. The towns of Madaya, Singu, Thabeikkyin, and Tagaung—all north of Myanmar’s second-most populous city of Mandalay—have been a battleground between the military and resistance forces in recent years. Singu and Thabeikkyin, south of Tagaung, were occupied by resistance forces for more than a year until the military retook them in 2025. “The junta forces have started advancing into Kyar Hnyat village outside south of Tagaung, while the resistance continues to counterattack. The explosions from the daily shelling are overwhelming and deafening,” the Singu-based source said. A coalition of resistance forces—including battalions of the People’s Defence Forces commanded by the NUG and local People’s Defence Teams—has been fighting to repel the junta’s advance on Tagaung. At the same time, the junta has been carrying out airstrikes on several villages including Shar Taw, some 25 miles south of Tagaung, destroying homes and forcing residents to flee. The junta has sent reinforcements to Singu, while junta-trained militias concentrated in and near Thabeikkyin Township’s Chaung Gyi village, and the troops’ and militias’ combined strength in the area may now be in the thousands, according to the source at the front. “They’re also using armoured vehicles in the operation,” he said. Clashes took place on Thursday between Thabeikkyin and Tagaung, according to pro-junta social media sources, with soldiers seizing several firearms from resistance forces.These claims have not been independently verified. Firearms seized by junta forces, according to pro-junta social media channels (Telegram) Tagaung, located 127 miles north of Mandalay, is the largest source of nickel in Myanmar. It was also once the capital of the Tagaung Kingdom, one of the Pyu states that thrived between the second and 11th centuries CE. Sometimes even treated as the country’s “birthplace”, the town holds a significant place in Myanmar’s history. The preservation of this heritage has been a priority for Myanmar’s governments in the past. Resistance forces captured Tagaung in August 2024, also securing the nearby nickel mine, and has maintained control since then. Towns held by the military and resistance in in Mandalay Region and northern Shan State Military’s resumes administration in Singu, Thabeikkyin Not far south of Tagaung, however, the military regime has begun to restore its administrative apparatus in the recently recaptured towns of Singu and Thabeikkyin, calling on civil service personnel to return to work, a local man from Singu said. He added that they have also been persecuting and seizing property from suspected resistance members and sympathisers. “They have detained people linked to the NUG administration and the local defence teams, while also sealing off their homes,” he said. A woman who previously fled her home in Singu said she has chosen not to return out of fear of the junta. “The resistance controlled Singu for more than a year, so most people had some form of contact with them,” she explained. “Many are afraid to return because of the risk the junta will target them.” The military has been fighting for months to exert control over the townships of northern Mandalay Region east of the Ayeyarwady, deploying lethal airstrikes and displacing thousands of civilians. Among other reasons, this broad control is vital to maintaining its hold on the important ruby-mining hub of Mogok, a crossroads linking Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, and northern Shan State where the military recently retook control in accordance with a Chinese-brokered ceasefire. Heavy fighting has also resumed around 30 miles north of Tagaung in Tigyaing, Sagaing Region, with the military pushing to regain more of the ground lost to resistance and ethnic armed organisations in recent years.

Myanmar military moves to take last resistance-held town in Mandalay Region

The regime has deployed a large force to the town of Tagaung on the Ayeyarwady River’s east bank, with more troops, junta-sponsored militias, and armoured vehicles massing to the south

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