Most of the residents of Tigyaing Town in Sagaing Region have permanently fled the town due to ongoing fighting to take the town from the junta, that started in November 2023.

After the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied resistance forces took Tigyaing Township in November 2023 they launched an offensive against Tigyaing Town, the administrative centre of Tigyaing Township and the only place in the township still held by the junta.

On and off fighting for Tigyaing Town has been ongoing since then.

A Tigyaing Town resident currently sheltering in Mandalay City said: “There are hardly any people left in the town now. A few residents have stayed behind because they simply have no way to leave, and some of them are even struggling with starvation.”

Many of the people displaced from Tigyaing Town are now sheltering in camps across Tigyaing Township and other nearby townships. Having been displaced for several months, they are now facing growing hardships, with little to no access to aid. They are having to improvise to survive.

The people who remain in Tingyaing Township are also facing severe difficulties and hardships due to the lack of aid organisations and donors operating in the town.

Currently the junta still controls Tigyaing Town and Tigyaing Bridge, but resistance forces control the rest of the township. But, since the fighting started in November 2023 all the roads to Tingyaing Town have been damaged. This means that hardly any goods are getting into the town which has caused commodity prices in the town to soar.

A Tigyaing Town resident who left the town in August 2024 said: “Right now, there is no sign that the resistance forces are planning a major attack on the town. The situation appears deadlocked. Every time they attempt to advance, the junta responds with heavy airstrikes, so it seems the resistance is reconsidering further moves.”