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

Subscribe for full access

Between resistance and the ballot box: Assessing the second phase of Myanmar’s junta-controlled elections

‘Our souls are in Myanmar’: Voices from a refugee camp

Under fire and deep in debt: The reality facing Myanmar’s farmers

Security risks impede haphazard election preparations in Sagaing Region

Military proxy party leads in second phase of junta-controlled elections

Myanmar military launches airstrikes in Sagaing ahead of election phase two

In grim camps, Rohingya hope UN genocide hearing can bring justice

Myanmar junta administrator shot dead while inspecting polling stations

Myanmar voters go to the polls for a second time amid fears of reprisals

KIA set to fully resume rare earth mining in captured ‘special region’

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles