The regime is attempting to take control of Maw Take in Indaw Township and is sending numerous troops from Indaw town to patrol the area around the village where several resistance groups are based.
A local said the army is mainly stationed on Phayar Kon Hill and will arrest civilians and burn houses in the township in the Sagaing Region. A column of the Light Infantry Division 77 has been sleeping in Nan Tha since 10 March and patrolling around the village and Awng Kon, Tong Taw, Ywa Tha and Ton Si since early this month, he said.
On 1 June, All Burma Students’ Democratic Front and Indaw People’s Defence Force ambushed the column around 7pm when it was on patrol. Fighting continued until 1am the next day near Tong Si Bridge and a pagoda between Ywa Tha and Kyun Taw until the column finally withdrew from the area, the source said.
Soldiers have abducted, tortured and killed residents of Nan Tha. People are concerned that the army is establishing a base in Maw Take after it started building bunkers in the village.
The patrolling regime soldiers has forced 11 villages to flee into the jungle and prevented all the inhabitants from working in their farms.
The Union Highway, which connects Myitkyina to Mandalay, passes through the township, which borders Kachin State, making it a strategically important area for both the regime and the resistance groups opposing its rule.
