Myanmar resistance forces capture junta stronghold in Sagaing’s Taze Township

Anti-regime forces captured a village controlled by junta soldiers and the pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia in Sagaing Region’s Taze Township late last week, according to resistance sources. The attack on Mutein, located about 20 miles north of the town of Taze on the bank of the Mu River, began at around 4am on Friday (November 28) and ended about four hours later, the sources said. There were around 50 soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members stationed in the village, according to a statement from the Taze Township People’s Defence Organisation (PDO), one of the groups involved in the offensive. Five rifles and other military equipment were seized after the junta forces retreated, the statement added. Several units under the command of the National Unity Government, as well as the allied People’s Liberation Army, took part in the battle to capture Mutein. During the fighting, the regime carried out a series of airstrikes, including two by fighter jets from the Tada-U air force base near Mandalay, and more by a Y-12 aircraft from Homalin, which reportedly dropped 80 bombs. Ground troops from Tank Battalion 6006, based in neighbouring Kanbalu Township, provided artillery support with howitzers, according to the Taze Township PDO. Several hours after the fighting ended, at around 3pm, a fighter jet from Tada-U carried out four more airstrikes on Mutein and other villages in the area, according to resistance sources.“They’re trying to block us because they’re afraid that we’ll continue on to Mugwa,” said an officer from the Ye-U Township PDO. Other villages in the area are Bayyin, Kabae, and Mukyin, which are all dominated by the Pyu Saw Htee. Junta troops are also stationed across the Mu River in Hmawtaw, a village in Kanbalu Township. Both pro- and anti-junta forces have a strong presence in Taze, Kanbalu, and Kyunhla townships. Most of the Pyu Saw Htee militia groups in the area were organised by ultranationalist monk U Warthawa. As the Pyu Saw Htee base camp in Mutein came under attack, pro-junta social media accounts, including U Warthawa’s, issued calls for air support. The regime has been conducting operations in Khin-U Township, next to Kanbalu Township, since the second week of November, resulting in continuous clashes with resistance forces. Junta columns based at Wettoe, a village in Kanbalu Township, were ambushed on November 12 as they advanced toward Khin-U Township. After reinforcing and regrouping at Monhla in Khin-U Township, they launched operations on November 23 and were attacked again, suffering heavy casualties.

Myanmar resistance forces capture junta stronghold in Sagaing’s Taze Township

The regime deployed airstrikes to support its troops in the Pyu Saw Htee-dominated village of Mutein after they came under attack last Friday

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