Fierce battles broke out last week on the Uru River in Homalin Township, Sagaing Region, as the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA) defended its outposts from the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces (PDF).
The battles between the resistance forces and the Shanni ethnic armed group began in the villages of Naung Po Aung and Hlwa Sin Kone, 17 miles south of Homalin, at around 10am on September 22.
According to a statement issued by the Homalin PDF, a local armed resistance chapter operating under the command of the publicly mandated National Unity Government, resistance fighters attacked members of the SNA stationed at the monasteries and schools in the two villages.
Three SNA fighters were killed in the ensuing five-hour battle, and one was killed on the resistance side, an Homalin PDF spokesperson said.
SNA spokesperson Col. Sai Say confirmed that a battle had occurred but denied that the SNA had suffered casualties.
The Homalin PDF spokesperson said that around 100 junta troops arrived from Tamu Township to join the SNA in the clash, along with three battalions of SNA reinforcements sent to Naung Po Aung from Homalin after the fighting started. He also claimed that junta troops fighting alongside the SNA had fired heavy artillery targeting the resistance forces’ positions.
“They fired off shells relentlessly. There were some injuries but no one was killed. The artillery shells were falling like rain,” he added.
However, Col. Sai Say claimed that there were no junta soldiers at the outposts attacked by the resistance fighters. He also said that shells fired by the PDF during the battle in Naung Po Aung had injured a child and two women, and that the SNA had not lost control over the areas where fighting took place.
The SNA was founded in 1989. While it initially provided support and training for volunteers joining the armed resistance after the military coup, local resistance groups say the organisation later forged more cooperative relations with the military regime.
Battles frequently break out between the SNA, PDF and Kachin Independence Army in Homalin Township, an area popular among local civilians who pan for gold along the banks of the Uru River. Earlier this year, an alliance of resistance fighters succeeded in taking over the town of Shwe Pyi Aye Myothit, maintaining control for three days before withdrawing.
