Residents of northern Shan State told DVB that regime troops recaptured six urban wards of Nawnghkio town from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Wednesday following a counteroffensive which began in April. The TNLA, along with its allied resistance forces, have had control of Nawnghkio for nearly one year.
“We learnt that the regime’s counteroffensive is continuing northward after the resistance withdrew from the town,” a Nawnghkio resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Kyaukme, another TNLA-controlled town, is 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Nawnghkio, which is located 96 miles (154 km) south of the regional capital Lashio.
Regime media reported the recapture of Nawnghkio on Thursday, highlighting its strategic importance due to its location on the key Myanmar-China border trade route. The Mandalay–Muse road, also known as No. 14 Asia Highway, passes through the town from west to east.
The TNLA reported on Wednesday that its administrative offices in Nawnghkio were relocated to a “safer place” and that fighting with regime forces in Nawnghkio continued.
It claimed that the regime’s “deliberate attacks” on civilians killed 23 and injured 88 others in Kyaukme, Nawnghkio, Hsipaw, Mogok and Mongngaw — all under TNLA control — since May.
Residents in Nawnghkio told DVB that over 70 civilians have been killed or injured since February in regime airstrikes, artillery attacks, or using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), known as drones.
Zin Yaw, a Myanmar Army defector who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to the 2021 military coup, told DVB that the regime’s overwhelming use of airpower gave it an advantage against the TNLA, which relies on ground-based weapons and a limited number of drones.
Lway Yay Oo, the TNLA Spokesperson, told the media at a press conference on July 5 that China met with both the regime and the TNLA on separate occasions to call for an end to fighting. She added that the TNLA will meet with the regime again in China next month after the two sides failed to come to an agreement during the first two rounds of talks in February and April.
Rumours circulated in June suggesting that the TNLA ordered its allied People’s Defence Force (PDF) to leave Nawnghkio but the ethnic armed group dismissed the claim.
Sources told DVB that regime forces recaptured 4-Mile village on July 12 and headed towards the PDF-controlled Thabeikkyin Township in Mandalay Region. Thabeikkyin is located 55 miles (88 km) west of the TNLA-controlled Mogok Township, a town famous for its ruby mines.
The PDF and ethnic armed groups have seized 103 towns and lost seven of them to regime forces since the uprising to the 2021 coup began, according to DVB data.
The seven recaptured by the regime from resistance forces are Myawaddy in Karen State, Kawlin and Kanni in Sagaing Region, Hsihseng and Moebye in southern Shan State, and Lashio and Nawnghkio in northern Shan.
