By AFP
Myanmar’s junta claimed on Thursday to have ousted resistance forces from a gold mining hub after a year-long battle, its second declared recapture of a key town in a week.
A civil war has consumed Myanmar since a 2021 coup deposed the civilian government, with the military battling a myriad of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed organisations.
Scattered anti-coup forces initially struggled to make headway, but won a string of stunning victories – mostly in the north – when the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups launched an offensive in October 2023.
This year, China- and Russia-backed regime forces have clawed back ground on the northern front, and state media said its soldiers managed “to fully retake” the town of Thabeikkyin in Mandalay Region on Wednesday.
One resident, U Ye Dinn, said people had fled fighting to shelter in the forest or nearby schools and monasteries.
“People have nothing to eat and no place to flee to,” the 65-year-old said.
Thabeikkyin, located about 100 kilometres north of the country’s second most populous city of Mandalay, is a lucrative hive of gold mining sitting on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River bisecting Myanmar.
Regime mouthpiece The Global New Light of Myanmar said a resistance alliance attacked Thabeikkyin with “overwhelming strength” last August, but its counteroffensive retook the town after 17 major battles.
“We are really scared,” said another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Nowhere is safe. We are all looking for a safe place, but people have no idea where they should go and hide.”
The junta last Thursday said it had recaptured the northeastern town of Nawnghkio in Shan State, on a key highway from Mandalay to China, forcing allied resistance forces back further into the fringes of the country.
Earlier this week, guerrillas said they ambushed a junta flotilla of five ships sailing up the Ayeyarwady north of Mandalay – another apparent sign of the military’s renewed regional offensive.
With control of Thabeikkyin and Nawnghkio, junta forces hold two flanks of the town of Mogok – the renowned centre of Myanmar’s ruby mining industry in Mandalay Region which resistance forces claimed last summer.
Mines excavating precious metals, gemstones and rare earth elements are coveted by all factions in Myanmar’s civil war, allowing them to fill their coffers and fund their offensives.
Some 3.5 million people are living displaced amid the war, according to the United Nations, while more than half the nation of around 50 million now lives in poverty.
