Myanmar’s military has been shelling villages east of the Sittaung River in Bago Region’s Yedashe Township relentlessly in recent weeks as anti-junta forces continue to make advances in the region.
The area, which is about 100km south of Naypyitaw, has come under heavy fire since the end of July, according to the Bago Region People’s Defence Force (PDF).
“They have army columns active on the ground, and they’re also using heavy artillery and airstrikes,” said Wai Yan, the group’s information officer.
Last Sunday, the explosion of an artillery shell injured a woman living in Na Kyat, a village in the eastern part of the township, a local woman told Myanmar Now.
“We don’t know where the next one will fall, so of course we’re terrified. We don’t even go out to work during the day,” she said.
According to another local resident, junta troops in the towns of Yedashe, Swar and Thar Wut Hti have been firing on the eastern side of the river with heavy artillery and attack helicopters to prevent PDF and Karen National Union (KNU) troops from crossing.
“There are PDF and KNU forces east of the river, so the area under the regime’s control has become quite narrow. The resistance forces have advanced from the mountains towards the villages. The junta army has been gradually retreating, and now they’ve closed the river ports and tightened restrictions,” he said.
At the ports connecting Yesdahe and Swar to the eastern side of the river, regime soldiers have been conducting strict searches, forcing civilians to show their phones and ID cards, he added.
“You can smell alcohol on some of them even before dawn. They’re mostly in their 20s or 30s, but they like it if you call them ‘saya’ [a term of respect]. If you can pay them about 10,000 kyat, they’ll let you go more quickly,” he said.
The Sittaung River basin, located between central Myanmar’s Bago Yoma mountain range and the mountainous border region to the east, is one of the most strategically important areas of the country.
Resistance forces have been trying to gain a foothold in the area because it would give them control over vital roadways linking Yangon and Naypyitaw. It could also potentially isolate the southeastern areas of the country, including Karen (Kayin) and Mon states and Tanintharyi Region.
Meanwhile, residents of several villages in the area, including Na Kyat, Sipaing, Ywathit, and Shansu, have been forced to flee the intensifying conflict.
Bago Region has been regarded as an epicentre of revolutionary movements in Myanmar since the country achieved independence in 1948. The KNU has long been active in the eastern part of the region, but the western part has also been heavily contested since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.
