The junta is urgently seeking to regain control of the highway linking Kale and Tamu towns in Sagaing Region, a vital route to the Indian border, ahead of the upcoming elections, said local sources monitoring the military situation in the region.

Resistance forces control about a 20-mile stretch of the Kale–Tamu Road, part of the Asia Highway, between Kale Town and Kantharyar Village, while the junta has been waging a fierce offensive since August 26, using ground troops, artillery, and airstrikes to retake the area.

“The junta’s been attacking every day trying to take back Kantharyar Village. It shelled the village with artillery, and over the weekend, aircraft even dropped bombs. Their positions in Kale Town have also been hit with howitzers firing into the area. But most of the shells have missed, landing in residential areas and nearby fields instead. So far, there haven’t been any reports of civilian casualties. It looks like the junta has taken heavy losses in the fighting. A lot of vehicles carrying soldiers’ bodies have been seen,” a local living near Kale-Tamu Road said.  

Junta forces based in Nansaungpu Village in Kale Township are carrying out artillery barrages against resistance positions around the clock, with the coup regime aiming to regain full control of the Kale–Tamu Road by year’s end, according to a local source familiar with the situation.

“Junta soldiers have positioned artillery on the highest hilltops around Nansaungpu Village and have been firing day and night. Meanwhile, the junta's artillery battalion in Kale Town is also pounding the area. Rumors are circulating that the junta is planning to retake the entire Kale–Tamu Road by December,” he said.

Kantharyar Village, the primary target of the junta’s ongoing offensive, is located about 20 miles from Kale Town and only 5 miles from Sakhangyi Village, which hosts many of the junta’s battalions.