Military counteroffensive against People’s Defense Force shifts from Mandalay to Sagaing

Pro-regime media reported that 506 members of armed groups, including the People’s Defense Force (PDF), were released from custody at the Central Regional Military Command (RMC) in Mandalay on Thursday. It added that the men, aged 15-20, came from Mandalay Region’s Thabeikkyin, Singu, Mogok and Kyaukse townships.

Regime forces regained control of Mandalay’s Thabeikkyin, Singu and Madaya townships from the PDF last year. All four towns are located 27-124 miles (43-200 km) north and south of the region’s capital Mandalay.

The PDF claims that it still maintains partial control of Natogyi and Myingyan townships, which are located 63-69 miles (101-111 km) south of Mandalay at the junction leading to Magway Region, despite regime reports claiming the military has recaptured all of Mandalay Region.

Political analysts confirmed to DVB that the PDF has lost control of all towns that were administered by the National Unity Government (NUG) in the region. A PDF member in Myingyan told DVB that fighting with regime forces has been ongoing since last month.

Residents in Mogok Township, located 124 miles (200 km) north of Mandalay, told DVB that the regime is attempting to reopen the Mandalay-Madaya-Thabeikkyin-Mogok highway connecting central Myanmar’s Anyar region to its northernmost Kachin State.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) handed over Mogok to regime forces on Nov. 28, as part of a China-brokered ceasefire deal reached on Oct. 29.

Residents in Madaya, located along the Mandalay-Madaya-Thabeikkyin-Mogok highway 24 miles (38 km) north of Mandalay, told DVB that the regime reopened the road connecting it to Myanmar’s second largest city in January.

The highway was shut down in 2024 after TNLA-led resistance forces, including the PDF, launched offensives in Mandalay and neighbouring northern Shan State.

In neighbouring Sagaing Region’s Tigyaing Township, an unknown number of civilians were reported injured by airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar Air Force on Tuesday. At least 12 civilians were reported killed and over 20 others were injured by regime airstrikes on Tigyaing March 8-10.

A Tigyaing resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that a military counteroffensive, launched on Feb. 6, reached the township immediately after regime forces retook Mandalay’s Tagaung Township from the PDF on March 10.

Tigyaing, located 30-182 miles (48-292 km) north of Mandalay’s Tagaung and the Sagaing Region capital Monywa, is contested between the PDF and regime forces. Tagaung, located 131 miles (210 km) north of Mandalay, was seized by the PDF and came under NUG administration in August 2024.

The PDF told DVB that regime forces want to regain control of the Tagaung Taung nickel processing plant, located at the junction where Tigyaing and Tagaung meet, as well as the Great Wall Sugarcane Mill. Both were seized in July 2024 and are still under PDF control.

The Chinese-backed Tagaung Taung nickel processing plant is estimated to be worth over $1 billion USD. Plant operations were suspended and the few workers remaining inside the compound remain loyal to the PDF.

Zin Yaw, a former soldier who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) following the 2021 military coup, told DVB that Tagaung is a “doorway” to PDF-controlled areas in Sagaing and “strategic” due to its location along the Irrawaddy River.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported on March 9 that six out of every 100 people in Myanmar are displaced from their homes due to the nationwide armed conflict that erupted five years ago following the 2021 military coup.

Over 70,000 people were displaced from their homes in Myanmar in the first two months of 2026, according to U.N. estimates.