Thousands displaced in Myanmar’s Mandalay region

Intense fighting between the military and rebel forces in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region this week has displaced thousands of civilians from more than 10 villages, anti-junta fighters and residents said.

Fighting in Mandalay’s Madaya township began on Tuesday as part of the second round of “Operation 1027” – an anti-junta offensive launched in October by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, along with two other ethnic armies that comprise the Three Brotherhood Alliance.

On Thursday, a member of the Madaya township defense force who took part in frontline fighting told Radio Free Asia that his group had captured the junta’s No. 1014 Air Defense Battalion in Madaya’s Myaing village. 

Madaya is about 32 km (20 miles) north of junta-controlled Mandalay, which is Myanmar’s second largest city. 

“They [the military] are conducting airstrikes, as we have seized their battalion,” said the defense force fighter who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “We took control of this battalion [on Wednesday].”

The Madaya township defense force is one of scores of anti-junta rebel groups that formed in response to the military’s Feb. 2021 coup and are collectively known as the People’s Defense Force, or PDF. 

In addition to local PDF groups, the Mandalay People’s Defense Force, the Danu People’s Liberation Army, and the Northern Shan State Alliance Army have joined the TNLA in this week’s offensive operations.

The air defense battalion in Madaya is one of 26 military outposts that the TNLA said it had jointly seized with PDF groups in Mandalay and the neighboring Shan state townships of Nawnghkio, Kyaukme and Mongmit over the past several days. 

The junta has yet to issue a statement related to the takeover of its battalion in Madaya. Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Thursday.

Nonetheless, rebel scout groups reported Thursday that the military had tightened security at the entrance to Madaya township and dispatched reinforcements to the area from Mandalay.

Clashes in Mogoke

Amid the fighting, thousands of civilians have been forced to flee from more than 10 villages in the township, as fighting intensified near Gyin Myaing village, residents said. Many had escaped with “nothing except the clothes we were wearing,” one recounted. 

A volunteer assisting the displaced said that they are sheltering in “safe locations that airstrikes and artillery attacks cannot reach.”

Additionally, clashes are intensifying between the junta and joint forces of the TNLA and PDF in Mogoke township in an area known for its ruby mines, according to the TNLA and residents. Mogoke is about 200 km (120 miles) north of Mandalay.

The TNLA said Thursday that it had started an offensive against the military’s No. 148 Infantry Battalion, stationed in Mogoke’s Aye Pagoda.

A Mogoke resident told RFA that those who have not fled the fighting are sheltering in their homes.

“No one dares to go outside – it’s too dangerous,” he said, adding that the military is targeting the area with heavy artillery.

Another resident said that three Buddhist monks were killed by an artillery shell that hit a monastery Thursday night. It was unclear who launched the shell.

“The weapons fell without any active combat,” the resident said. “Moreover, it was far from the battlefield where the conflict occurred.”

Two other injured monks were sent to Mogoke township’s public hospital.

RFA attempted to contact Thein Htay, the junta’s Mandalay regional spokesperson, to gather further information about the incident, but received no response.

Weapons and ammo seized

On Friday, the TNLA announced it had seized about 380 large and small weapons during an attack on a military junta camp in Nawnghkio in Shan state near the Mandalay border.

Among the seized weapons were 81 mm and 60 mm heavy weapons, RPG-7s, machine guns and assault rifles.

Additionally, the TNLA confiscated mines, communication equipment, more than 50,000 rounds of small arms ammunition and more than 500 rounds of ammunition for RPGs and other heavy weapons.

The TNLA and their allies now control nearly all areas in the township, including government offices in Nawnghkio.

The military council has not issued any official statement on this situation. RFA attempted to contact Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s spokesperson for Shan state, but received no response.Also in Shan state, aid workers in Kyaukme township told RFA that they had buried 23 bodies since fighting began there on Tuesday, including those of six civilians killed by artillery fire.

An aid worker who took part in the burials said that corpses of junta soldiers were among the dead.

The junta has not released any news about the latest fighting in Shan state, and RFA was unable to contact Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s spokesperson and economic minister in the state, for additional information.

Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.