{"id":7773,"date":"2025-09-23T03:37:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/?p=7773"},"modified":"2025-09-23T03:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:07:21","slug":"after-six-days-of-fighting-for-banmauk-resistance-forces-hold-much-of-the-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/2025\/09\/after-six-days-of-fighting-for-banmauk-resistance-forces-hold-much-of-the-town\/","title":{"rendered":"After six days of fighting for Banmauk, resistance forces hold much of the town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 View from September 21<\/h1>\n

(MoeMaKa, September 22, 2025)<\/p>\n

After six days of fighting for Banmauk, resistance forces hold much of the town<\/h2>\n

In Banmauk<\/strong> (population 8,500+), Katha District, Kachin State, resistance forces launched an offensive on September 15<\/strong> to seize the town. By day six they had entered and garrisoned<\/strong> parts of the urban area. However, in some sections SNA<\/strong> (the Shan-ni armed group) and junta troops remain dug in and are still resisting, according to several outlets.<\/p>\n

Some reports say KIA<\/strong> units together with People\u2019s Defense Forces<\/strong> under the NUG Ministry of Defense are attacking; others say the PDF\/PAkHpa<\/strong> units (under MOD) are leading. As usual with wartime news, propaganda claims<\/strong> and on-the-ground facts<\/strong> do not always align.<\/p>\n

Since yesterday there have been claims that the resistance now fully controls<\/strong> Banmauk and that SNA units have fled; other outlets concede entry into the town but say SNA remains<\/strong> in certain neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Banmauk\u2014located in Katha District, Sagaing Region<\/strong>\u2014is home mainly to Shan-ni<\/strong> and Kadu\u2013Kanan<\/strong> communities. Because of the Shan-ni majority, the pro-junta Shan-ni armed group<\/strong> has maintained a presence in the town.<\/p>\n

Shan-ni armed groups operate in parts of Sagaing<\/strong> and Kachin<\/strong>. In recent years they have also fought the KIA<\/strong> in places like Hpakant<\/strong> over territorial control. In the current Banmauk battle, some Shan-ni view KIA participation<\/strong> through an ethnic lens<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Within the broader anti-dictatorship war, ethnic armed organizations sometimes cooperate<\/strong>, but they also keep their distance<\/strong> or even clash<\/strong> when interests conflict. In Kachin and Sagaing, there have been frictions between SNA and KIA<\/strong>; in northern Shan, between KIA and TNLA<\/strong>, and between TNLA and SSPP\/SSA<\/strong>, often over administration and control of territory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Banmauk is administratively part of Sagaing Region<\/strong> (under both the socialist-era and 2008 constitutions<\/strong>), but demographically it is a town of Shan-ni<\/strong> and Kadu\u2013Kanan<\/strong> peoples. PDF forces under the NUG MOD are strong in areas such as Kawlin<\/strong> and Indaw<\/strong>; they seized Kawlin<\/strong> in previous years and held it for months before the junta retook<\/strong> it.<\/p>\n

Since announcing an election date<\/strong>, the junta has been using all available means to pressure<\/strong> the resistance politically and militarily. Backed by diplomatic support from China<\/strong> and India<\/strong>, and access to munitions<\/strong> and drone technologies<\/strong>, the military has gained advantages both strategically<\/strong> and tactically<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After suffering a string of defeats through early and mid-last year, the junta appears in 2025<\/strong> to be clawing back<\/strong> in manpower, weaponry, tactics, and diplomacy.<\/p>\n

It is currently conducting offensives in Kachin State<\/strong>, Kayah (Karenni)<\/strong>, northern Shan<\/strong>, and Karen State<\/strong>, while in Bago<\/strong> and Ayeyarwady<\/strong> Regions it is on the defensive<\/strong> against AA<\/strong> forces. The junta seems to select targets on two bases:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Smaller towns<\/strong> it believes must be fought over to make elections feasible; and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Resource and revenue corridors<\/strong>\u2014places and routes that fund the resistance through natural resources and taxation.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Of the 100+ towns<\/strong> the military has lost nationwide, in 2025<\/strong> it has launched offensives around roughly ten<\/strong>, retaking some<\/strong> while fighting continues<\/strong> in others.<\/p>\n

    For their part, resistance forces are both holding the line<\/strong> against junta offensives and, as in Banmauk<\/strong>, mounting counter-offensives<\/strong> to seize territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Myanmar Spring Chronicle \u2013 View from September 21 (MoeMaKa, September 22, 2025) After six days of fighting for Banmauk, resistance forces hold much of the town In Banmauk (population 8,500+), Katha District, Kachin State, resistance forces launched an offensive on…<\/p>\n

    Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,58],"tags":[100],"class_list":["post-7773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current","category-features","tag-myanmar-spring-revolution"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1-2.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3RDLm-21n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7775,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7773\/revisions\/7775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}