Myanmar regime withdraws troops from key outpost north of Sagaing capital

Junta troops have abandoned a heavily fortified outpost in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township, leaving only its administrative centre under regime control, according to resistance sources. Soldiers stationed at the outpost in Ku Taw, a village about 13 miles northwest of the town of Budalin, withdrew on Tuesday with a column of troops that arrived from the town late last week, the sources said. The outpost is located just over 20 miles north of the junta’s Northwestern Regional Command (RMC) headquarters, near the regional capital Monywa. After it was captured by resistance forces in late 2021, it was retaken by the military and provided with multiple defences, including three fences, bunkers, and trenches. “The camp is enclosed by three or four rows of barbed wire and further fortified with two additional fences. The bunkers and trenches are sturdily built with bricks and cement, and their roofs are reinforced concrete, designed to withstand drone attacks,” said Moe Thauk, a member of a Budalin-based village defence force. He added that troops stationed at the outpost rarely left it due to frequent attacks, and only advanced into nearby areas when accompanied by reinforcements from Budalin. “They never ventured outside the camp, except when deliveries of rations or ammunition arrived, or when reinforcements came from Budalin. They always remained inside the fences,” he said. Last September, a coalition of resistance groups ambushed a junta column as it was marching from Ku Taw to Budalin, killing dozens of soldiers and capturing more than 40. Following the ambush, junta forces retaliated with raids on nearby villages, using civilians as human shields. Between October 11 and 20, regime forces killed at least 24 civilians, including children and the elderly, in attacks on 17 villages and wards, according to the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Human Rights. At the end of December, a column of junta troops from the Northwestern RMC entered Budalin to conduct another series of raids, again using local civilians as human shields, according to resistance sources. At least 150 were taken hostage, the sources said, adding that a number have been released since Tuesday, when the troops from the Ku Taw outpost arrived in Budalin. There have also been reports that at least one hostage, a man from the village of Tet Hlaing, was shot and killed. Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify this information. With the abandonment of the Ku Taw outpost, the military now controls only the town of Budalin, while the rest of the township is held by forces opposed to the regime. Despite the military’s retreat from the area, residents of Ku Taw and the nearby village of Ywar Mun remain reluctant to return to their homes due to the ongoing threat of landmines and airstrikes, according to local resistance groups. In its census report released in late December, the junta openly acknowledged that it now controls just 145 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, as it continues to face heavy losses around the country nearly four years after seizing power.

Myanmar regime withdraws troops from key outpost north of Sagaing capital

The abandonment of the heavily fortified Ku Taw outpost leaves only Budalin Township’s administrative centre under junta control

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