Anti-junta resistance forces in Chin State say they are expecting intense clashes in the conflict-hit township of Mindat after their fighters killed a Tatmadaw battalion commander last week.
A spokesperson for the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) said the commander, a lieutenant colonel, died during a clash along the Mindat-Matupi highway early on Friday morning.
Military-controlled newspaper The Mirror announced on Saturday that lieutenant colonel Zaw Zaw Soe, 48, died at around 6.15am while on duty, though it did not give details of where or how he died.
Zaw Zaw Soe was among 10 junta soldiers killed in Friday’s battle, according to the CDF. Since that clash, the situation in Mindat has become more tense, the group’s spokesperson said.
“The military has been sending reinforcements. I think they’ve already sent around three columns of their troops,” he told Myanmar Now. “After the battle… around 80 reinforcement troops arrived from Matupi. It looks like the battle will become more serious.”
Fighting along the mountainous highway started on July 21 when the junta’s forces launched an attack, according to the Mindat People’s Administration Team.
Twenty six junta troops and 15 CDF fighters have died in the two weeks since then, the CDF spokesperson said. There are also unconfirmed reports that civilians have been forced to flee their homes.
On July 24, the CDF said it seized control of a police station in the remote town of M’kuiimnu without firing a shot after six police and soldiers surrendered and agreed to join the resistance.
Mindat has become a stronghold of armed resistance to the junta since civilians took up arms there in April, using traditional hunting rifles and later seizing more advanced weapons from the military.
During the latest clashes, the Chin National Front, an armed group that was largely inactive before the coup, has fought alongside the CDF, as have chapters of the People’s Defence Force from different areas of Chin State, the CDF spokesperson said.
The CDF says it plans to continue attacks even as it waits for the underground National Unity Government (NUG) to give the signal for full-scale nationwide attacks against junta forces, the spokesperson said.
“Right now, we’re planning to continue the battles as we prepare for the upcoming war. There’s no way to stop the battles if they’re going to keep trespassing on the areas we are operating in,” he said.
The NUG’s defence minister Yee Mon told RFA last month that about 8,000 PDF fighters will finish combat training by the end of July. He urged resistance fighters across the country to wait for its signal to launch a coordinated offensive.
“During this preparation period, I urge our revolution comrades to prepare for their own individual safety, health and morale,” Yee Mon told the broadcaster.
Last month a spokesperson for the eastern Yangon chapter of the PDF, which has been coordinating closely with the NUG, told Myanmar Now that an “all-out” conflict was on its way.
“I promise we will arrive at your door very soon,” he said. “We are currently engaging in guerrilla warfare, but please know that it won’t be long before we begin an all-out battle.”
