Resistance groups in western Mandalay Region have shown signs of greater coordination and effectiveness, but there’s still a long way to go to replicate the successes of their comrades in the north.
By FRONTIER
Ko Mya Thar never expected his hometown to become a war zone.
But on August 10, he was awoken at 5am by the sound of gunfire and grenades. People’s Defence Forces, which often travelled through rural parts of Natogyi Township, were attacking junta targets in the town, including the police station.
“It was so sudden that no one expected it. Residents had no time to flee from their homes, and everyone was stuck in the town,” Mya Thar, 38, told Frontier on August 22, asking to be identified by a pseudonym for security reasons.
Suddenly, through the crackle of small arms fire came the whine of fighter jets and a series of massive explosions that lasted from 10am to 4pm.
“When the fighting stopped, many residents left town with white flags hanging from their motorbikes and cars. The town was completely quiet,” Mya Thar said.
The attack on Natogyi was part of the opening salvo of the Myingyan District Special Operation – a series of coordinated attacks in the district’s Myingyan, Taung Tha, Natogyi and Ngazun townships in southwestern Mandalay Region in Myanmar’s central Dry Zone, also known as Anyar.
The operation was launched by PDFs under the command of the National Unity Government, a parallel administration appointed by elected lawmakers deposed in the 2021 military coup.
Ko Soe Aung, spokesperson for the Natogyi PDF, told Frontier the coalition killed more than 30 enemy troops in Natogyi town before retreating due to the airstrikes.
“We had no plan to control the town in the first place. We knew we would not be able to hold it because of the geographical situation,” he said, referring to the flat terrain that left them exposed. “We just wanted to show the junta that we can occupy the town if we want to.”
Since the coup the Dry Zone has been wracked by extreme violence, often pitting neighbour against neighbour. But while ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy militias elsewhere have seized important towns in recent months, including along the Ayeyarwady River north of Mandalay city, Dry Zone PDFs have largely been unable to evolve beyond small scale raids, roadside ambushes and targeted assassinations.
The Myingyan District operation seemed to herald a greater degree of coordination and boldness from these PDFs. But the assault has mostly focused on softer targets like police stations, local militia outposts and regime-linked economic interests rather than well-guarded army bases. And rather than holding onto targets, PDFs have mostly torched them and retreated.
In addition to raiding and retreating from Natogyi town, PDFs have also fought in the outskirts of Taung Tha town, burning down a state-owned factory to the north and razing an offtake station for the Chinese-owned Shwe oil and gas pipeline to the south. They launched rockets at a state-owned steel factory in Myingyan Township, while clashing with pro-regime militias in rural areas, and drone bombed a police outpost in Ngazun Township’s Ngan Myar village tract.
The fighting has also spilled across the district border into Tada-U Township, where local resistance forces made a rare attack on a harder target, razing a small air defence base (not to be confused with the major air force base attached to the Mandalay civilian airport).
However, these victories pale in comparison to the achievements of their comrades in the northern part of the region, above Mandalay city, who have seized four major towns in recent months with assistance from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Kachin Independence Army.
But perhaps all that’s required from the Dry Zone PDFs in Myingyan District and elsewhere is to harry the backlines of the Myanmar military while the more powerful groups approach Mandalay city from the north.
Command and control
The Dry Zone was one of the first areas to see armed resistance after the coup, as local anti-junta militias arose spontaneously with colourful names like the Myingyan Black Tigers.
But the resistance here has been plagued by factionalism, unable to consolidate under a central command, although the NUG appears to be taking steps to rectify this.
The Myingyan Black Tigers are now part of Battalion 9 of the Myingyan District PDF, while the Natogyi PDF serves as its Battalion 4.
The leader of a smaller PDF, which is registered with the NUG’s defence ministry but operates under its own command, told Frontier he was contacted by the Myingyan District PDF commander in early August and told they were preparing for “a big mission”. He said his group joined in conducting raids on pro-regime militia outposts across Myingyan Township.
“Almost all the PDF groups in the district are now fighting at the same time, so the enemy doesn’t know what to do,” he said, asking to remain anonymous to speak freely about internal PDF dynamics. “The enemy is sending its troops to the front lines [north of Mandalay city], so lately their troop strength in our district is significantly reduced. We’re taking advantage of this situation.”
U Maung Maung Swe, deputy permanent secretary of the NUG’s defence ministry, said the parallel government is directly overseeing the operation. But the leader of the small PDF said that after the initial coordinated assaults of early August, most groups are fighting on their own again.
“We’re fighting according to our own agenda like we did before,” he said. “Even though it’s called an operation, we’re not fighting under a single command and most of the fighting isn’t planned.”
He added that while larger groups have received NUG support, his has not.
“We’re implementing the operation with handmade guns, so it’s like we’re running up against a brick wall with our bare heads, because the NUG can’t even give us helmets,” he said. “Even if they can’t give us weapons, they need to provide support with small items like ammunition.”
The group has had to do online fundraisers to purchase supplies. Soe Aung from the Natogyi PDF agreed that access to weapons and ammo is “the main challenge”.
The operation was launched around the same time that the Mandalay PDF and TNLA were attacking Mogok, Madaya and Singu townships in northern Mandalay Region – and that appears to be no accident. Soe Aung said Dry Zone PDFs are coordinating with the Mandalay PDF but declined to go into much detail.
“We launched our operation in this district so that the military can’t send many reinforcements to the north where the Mandalay-PDF is operating,” he said.
But Bo Mike Khal from the Myingyan Black Tigers insisted that Myingyan District is strategically important in its own right.
“If we look south, there is a road to Meiktila, and if we look southeast, there is a highway to Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon. To the west, there is a road to Bagan and Pakokku, and Tada-U and Mandalay are to the north. If we can control this area, it would be like breaking the backbone of the junta,” he said.
Taung Tha is about 70 kilometres from the town of Meiktila, which is home to one of the air force’s largest bases, as well as the headquarters of the army’s infamous Light Infantry Division 99 and a 500-bed military hospital. Natogyi is at a similar distance from Mandalay International Airport in Tada-U Township, which abuts another major air force base. The smaller air base raided in August is only 20km away.
The civilian toll
The attack on Natogyi town has left it almost completely abandoned – Mya Thar said he’s living with relatives in Meiktila – but Myingyan town appears largely unaffected.
A resident told Frontier there was “no uproar” in Myingyan. He said parents kept students home from school for a few days and some wealthier residents evacuated the town, but all government offices have kept operating. The only problem is that banks have closed, leaving residents mostly dependent on online banking.
“Apart from that, the town is as usual,” he said.
But the military’s widespread use of airstrikes means life is anything but usual for those who find themselves under the shadows of a fighter jet.
Publicly available reporting indicates at least 10 civilians have been killed in Myingyan District or neighbouring areas from August 10 to September 1, including an entire family of four in Kyaukpadaung Township.
The junta is particularly reliant on airstrikes when its infantry is overstretched. Maung Maung Swe from the NUG said the military is unable to send ground troops to raid the Dry Zone like it did before because of offensives elsewhere.
“The junta is losing the war on all fronts across the country, and they’re losing manpower,” he said, adding that in their desperation they’re “committing war crimes, like dropping bombs and firing artillery at civilians and non-military targets”.
This overstretch has also left the regime more dependent on paramilitary Pyusawhti militias, formed by prominent local military supporters. Mike Khal said the Myingyan-based PDFs are fighting daily against a large Pyusawhti led by infamous female military supporter Daw Thidar Yumon on the road from Myingyan to Taung Tha.
“As long as they don’t have air support we can beat them, but as soon as aircraft come, we have to retreat,” he said. “We’re not afraid of the ground forces, including the Pyusawhti, and of the troops coming by water [on the Ayeyarwady River, which passes Myingyan]. We admit that we’re afraid of air attacks because we don’t have anti-aircraft weapons.”
Maung Maung Swe said the defence ministry has established a Public Security Department to educate civilians on how to avoid the fighting and how to shelter from airstrikes and artillery attacks. But many residents say they don’t have the expertise to build bunkers or the funds to hire somebody to do it for them.
“Once villagers hear the sound of jets, they go hide in the forest,” said a resident of Tasaung village in Myingyan Township, who said three people were injured when the military bombed a nearby school on August 17. “People who have bomb shelters allow their neighbours to hide with them, but those who live far away from any shelters just run and hide in places where they aren’t completely safe.”
But despite these challenges for civilians, Mike Khal said the PDFs are just getting started, characterising the operation begun in August as a “warm-up match”.
“In the future, we want to take control of the towns rather than retreating,” he said.
“So, we’re drafting military plans and strategies on how to take control of the towns, but we need more weapons to be able to do it. We can’t say when we will do it, but that’s our goal.”
