Regime forces may soon face difficulties sending reinforcements overland to the Kachin State capital Myitkyina since resistance forces seized its “doorway” of Indaw Township in Sagaing Region, which borders Kachin State, on Monday.
“The transport route to Mohnyin, Mogaung and Myitkyina has been cut off,” said Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar Army soldier who defected to the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 military coup.
Zin Yaw added that the regime had relied on overland routes to supply its outposts in those towns, as river transport has become more difficult.
Resistance forces seized the remaining regime outpost on a hill locally known as Japan Cave in Indaw on Monday. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated from the outpost.
Indaw is located 48-145 miles (77-233 km) southwest of Mohnyin, Mogaung and Myitkyina, and 209 miles (336 km) north of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa. The town’s population is 120,000, according to the 2014 census.
Indaw sits at a junction of railway and highway connecting Sagaing’s Shwebo Township to Kachin’s Myitkyina, where the regime Northern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters is located. Shwebo is located 62 miles (99 km) northeast of Monywa.
Resistance forces led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and the People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Kachin and Sagaing, launched an coordinated offensive to take Indaw and Nabar, a village in the township, on August 15.
“Regime troops surrendered to us,” a source on the frontline told DVB on the condition of anonymity. He added that they detained an unspecified number of regime troops and confiscated their weapons.
Nearly 20,000 residents of Indaw and Nabar have reportedly fled their homes since August. “Of course I want to go home. But I fear the regime’s airstrikes,” a resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
Nabar, which sits at the crossroads connecting Katha and Mawluu townships of Sagaing, came under resistance control within days of the offensive launched on Aug. 15. But the battle for control of Indaw took nearly eight months. Nabar is located 226-231 miles (363-371 km) north of Monywa. Katha and Mawluu is located 226-231 miles (363-371 km) north of Monywa.
The Arakan Army (AA) and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF)—an armed resistance group formed after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising—joined the KIA and PDF offensive in Indaw. But neither group has officially confirmed this to DVB.
