(Based on staff articles from The MYANMAR NOW MEDIA on 03 July 2024.)
After the NUG has declared the Shan-Man Operation on
June-27 the following PDF battalions [Battalions 1221, 1222, 1223, 1224, &
513 under Mogoke Tactical Command (Byu-har) of Mandalay PDF] immediately went
into action and within a week first Mattayar and now Sintgu townships have been
captured by the resistance forces.
Despite the heavy bombing and straffing contantly from the Myanmar Air Force planes the MDY-PDF forces have captured all Myanmar Army bases in the region and terminated the government administration there. Most of the Sintgu-Thabeikkyin region is a well-known and productive gold-mining area populated mostly by the Burmese gold prospectors moving up from the lowlands.
The whole
Mandalay-Mattayar-Thabeikkyin Highway is now under the control of Mandalay-PDF.
Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, one of the prominent MDY-PDF leaders stated in the interview
with Myanmar Now Media that their principal objective was to occupy the Mandalay, the
second largest city in Burma frist, and then Naypyidaw the capital city.
People from Mattayar & Sintgu are fleeing to Mandalay
Mandalay-PDF has
been blockading Sintgu Town for weeks and many Myanmar Army officers were seen
cossing the Irrawaddy River to reach the Town of Kyauk-myaung in the Shwebo
Township of Sagaing Division.
Town folks in
Mandalay are seen preparing to flee the City also as the PDF offensives are
getting closer and closer to Mandalay and the surroundings. And the Mattayar
and Sintgu folks are also fleeing towards Mandalay which is now being fortified
with defensive pacement of armed-soldiers and armoured vehicles from Myanmar
Army. Mattayar was seen completely deserted as of July-4.
Previously
war-refugees from Mattayar and Sintgu could get into Mandalay easily, but since
the Midday of July-4 Maymar Army’s Shwekyin-Gate on the outskirt of the City has
stopped the people from entering Mandalay.
Acoording to one
Mattayar man now living in Mandalay, “They
stopped all the vehicles just before Mandalay and checked the NRC (National
Registration Card) of everyone, and anyone with Mattayar-issued NRC is forced
to turn back. Me and my family found another way around and just sneaked in and
we are now inside Mandalay, lucky us!”
