Junta troops and allied Pyusawhti militia entered Htinchaung Village in Mindat Township, Chin State, on May 30, burning down homes and a monastery. The village, about 10 miles south of Mindat Town, the township seat, was left in ruins after the attack.
Regime soldiers and allied militia members are currently deployed in the village, at a nearby bridge, at crossroads connecting surrounding villages, and on a hill overlooking the area.
On May 29, junta reconnaissance units left Artillery Battalion 368 based in Kyaukhtu Town, Saw Township, Magway Region, and advanced into forests along the border between Mindat and Yaw townships. Later that night, some of the soldiers moved toward the nearby Thanoo Gorge.
Another junta column of around 300 troops, which had previously been moving south from Kyaukhtu, reached Kanchaung and Kyauksit villages in Saw Township. The column also commandeered two civilian lorries and two passenger vehicles.
This suggests that the junta is deploying large-scale forces to conduct military operations in southern Chin State and the Yaw area. The Yaw area is a collective term for towns such as Gangaw, Tilin, Saw, Kyaukhtu, and nearby rural areas.
The area is also considered a resistance stronghold, where there is significant military coordination among local resistance forces such as the Chinland Defence Force (CDF), Yaw Defence Force (YDF), the Chin People’s Union, and the Chin People’s Army (CPU/CPA).
For logistical reasons, the junta must use routes through the Yaw area when transporting supplies and weapons by land to townships like Mindat, Kanpetlet, and Matupi in the Chin Mountains.
However, along the Yaw–Chin border, resistance forces have frequently attacked junta convoys using landmines and ambushes, inflicting repeated casualties on the junta’s logistical units. As a result, the junta’s supply routes have been disrupted and stalled for months.
Artillery Battalion 368 in Kyaukhtu serves as a strategic base. It provides artillery support to junta troops in the southern Yaw area and the Chin Mountains, and it functions as a command center for deploying columns across the region.
