Resistance forces enter Katha after clashes spread on junta election day

Fighting broke out and spread across northern Sagaing Region as the Myanmar military held elections on Sunday in 102 Myanmar townships, with anti-junta forces moving into the town of Katha the day after the vote, according to local sources. The People’s Defence Forces (PDF) and allied ethnic armed groups attacked junta positions outside Katha, including the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 309 base near the town’s south entrance, at around 3am on Sunday. Town residents said the ensuing clashes severely disrupted the vote, with many unable to cast ballots amid the gunfire, shelling, and aerial attacks. After capturing two hilltop military outposts north of the town—Thutaw Hill and Yekan Hill—the day after the election, resistance forces pushed into Katha’s urban neighbourhoods, with heavy fighting reported in Wards 8 and 5. “The resistance has already entered the town,” a Katha resident told Myanmar Now. “Some people in Ward 5 saw groups of resistance fighters moving inside.” Residents said the military responded to the resistance advance into Katha with airstrikes and shelling, bombing areas north and west of the town and firing heavy artillery from inside the LIB 309 base. The fighting reportedly damaged houses in nearby villages and caused a fire in at least one monastery inside the town. Locals said resistance forces also seized the town’s intercity bus terminal. The military has been occupying various key sites including religious buildings in Katha, forcing the city’s displaced civilians to relocate, while using air support to defend its positions on the ground. Thousands of residents are believed to be trapped inside Katha, as the military has blocked civilians from fleeing. The resistance launched the offensive in Katha Township while consolidating control across much of northern Sagaing Region. With support from allies, forces commanded by the National Unity Government (NUG)—an anti-junta shadow government—have already seized Banmauk and other towns in recent months, tightening pressure on the remaining junta strongholds on vital supply routes connecting Sagaing Region and Kachin State. The Kachin Independence Army and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front are among the NUG-commanded forces taking part in the current operation. Katha, located on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River near the Sagaing-Kachin border, is a strategically important transport hub. While most surrounding villages have been under resistance control since 2023, the town itself has remained in junta hands until the latest offensive, launched at the same time as the military’s widely criticised election.

Resistance forces enter Katha after clashes spread on junta election day

The armed resistance seized two military hilltop outposts before advancing into the urban wards of Katha, Sagaing Region, the day after the military regime held elections in the town

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