Myanmar Regime Faces Fierce Resistance on Reopened Mandalay-Myitkyina Highway

Clashes have erupted along the Mandalay-Myitkyina Highway through Sagaing Region and Kachin State after regime troops recaptured the route on May 5, according to the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The road, which serves as a gateway to Kachin State, runs through a special operation zone under the KIA and allied resistance groups.

Military tensions are running high in Sagaing’s Katha, Indaw and Maw Luu, Kachin’s Shwegu, and Shan State’s Mabein despite regime claims to have retaken the entire strategic northern route, KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu stated.

Fighting broke out after a regime convoy from Mandalay dropped reinforcements at Katha, Indaw, and Mawlu along the way to Kachin’s capital, Myitkyina, according to a local source.