Myanmar resistance forces capture town in northern Sagaing

The northern Sagaing Region town of Pinlebu fell to an alliance of anti-regime groups on Tuesday morning after seven weeks of intense fighting, according to resistance sources. “I can confirm that we are now in full control of the town, but that is all the information we have at this time,” Nay Phone Latt, spokesperson for the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG), told Myanmar Now on Wednesday. The allied forces, including troops from the NUG’s People’s Defence Force (PDF), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and other groups, launched their offensive against junta troops stationed in and around Pinlebu in mid-August. The town of roughly 7,000 inhabitants has been largely deserted since April 2022, when an earlier offensive ended after 11 days due to junta airstrikes. Three fighter jets also bombed the town on Tuesday morning, according to a member of a resistance group active in the area. In April 2021, Pinlebu became the scene of one of the first armed clashes to break out between regime forces and civilians in the wake of that year’s military takeover, after some residents started using traditional hunting rifles to defend themselves following the shooting deaths of three local protesters. In July of this year, anti-regime forces launched a drone attack on a Mi-17 combat helicopter as it landed at an airfield in Pinlebu Township. The helicopter was damaged, but managed to take off after the attack. Resistance forces have captured six towns in Sagaing Region since the coup, but were forced to retreat from two of them after facing intense junta counteroffensives. Late last year, a combined force of PDF and KIA troops took control of the district-level town of Kawlin, about 40 miles southeast of Pinlebu, and held it for three months until it was retaken by the regime in February of this year. Anti-junta forces also briefly seized the town of Depayin in August, holding it long enough to release political prisoners being held there by the regime before withdrawing hours later. Four towns in Sagaing Region—Khampat, Maw Luu, Shwe Pyi Aye, and Myo Thit—remain under resistance control.

Myanmar resistance forces capture town in northern Sagaing

Pinlebu was one of the first towns to see armed resistance to the regime following the February 2021 military coup

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