In Indaw Township, Sagaing Region, an intense fighting erupted between a combined group comprising the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the People's Defense Force (PDF), and the Military Council on September 18th, resulted in two Military Council troops being killed and three others seriously injured, as reported by Indaw-based resistance forces.
On September 18th, a 60-strong column from the 324th Light Infantry Battalion, departed from the Yeikkarkone military base in Indaw. En route to Nabar village, they encountered a joint assault launched by KIA and PDF, an Indaw-PDF official told KNG.
"We've had skirmishes since September 17th, There was another outbreak early the next morning lasting the entire day and only calming down after 2am the next day, we received reports of 2 enemy fatalities and 3 serious injuries”, he stated.
Following the intense combats near Naba, on the night of September 19th, the Military Council established their presence on the Indaw side of the Naba intersection, while KIA-PDF joint forces occupied the Mawluu side of the intersection, maintaining a heightened state of tension in the region.
Witnesses reported that the casualties among the Military Council's ranks, both the deceased and the injured during the conflicts, were evacuated by ambulances from Indaw.
"We saw ambulances transporting wounded and deceased soldiers, and we've also witnessed their reinforcements arriving here”, a Naba villager said.
During and after the clashes with resistance forces, the Military Council targeted Naba village, the Naba Mountain Range, and adjacent communities with artillery shelling, resulting in damage to several houses. However the precise extent of the damage remains undisclosed.
As a result of the heightened military tension, the Military Council has barricaded the Indaw-Naba Road, while the Naba-Mawluu Road ahead has been temporarily sealed off by the KIA-PDF joint forces.
Starting on September 14th, the Military Council has been conducting operations from Indaw towards Naba, and they have also been conducting nighttime drone patrols over residential villages in the area.
As a response to these security concerns, nine schools established by the National Unity Government (NUG) in Indaw have been indefinitely closed.
