Indaw Township in Sagaing Region is now a junta-free zone, but some displaced residents remain reluctant to return.
Indaw Township was captured by resistance forces in April 2025, and the National Unity Government’s administrative apparatus has been operating there for more than six months.
However, hundreds of residents from 12 villages in the Mawteik Village Tract along the Indaw–Banmauk Road still do not dare to return to their homes. A Mawteik resident said they have hesitated to return because many homes were damaged or destroyed, and the threat of junta airstrikes still loomed.
“Many of us haven’t gone back yet. Everyone’s worried that more airstrikes might come. Some have nowhere to return because their homes were completely destroyed. Even if we try to rebuild, there’s a risk the warplanes could bomb us again,” he told KNG.
The villages in the Mawteik Village Tract had already been hit by arson and airstrikes from junta troops since March 2023, before resistance forces launched an offensive to capture the township seat, Indaw Town. As a result, many residents have no homes to return to, with entire villages reduced to ashes, the source added.
A resident of Kwinngon Village said that although he is eager to return home, he has not dared to do so due to the constant threat of junta airstrikes.
“There’s no fighting right now, but planes are still hovering around. Just yesterday, I saw them flying three times. They didn’t strike, but nobody dares to go back home when the planes are always around. Our village is closer to Banmauk Town, so it’s even more dangerous,” he explained.
Since junta troops entered and deployed around Mawteik and Nantthar villages in 2023, residents from about a dozen villages including Mawteik, Nantthar, Inpin, Aungkone, and Tonetaw have fled.
KNG has repeatedly reached out to the resistance-run Indaw People’s Administration to ask about plans for repatriating displaced residents, but has yet to receive a response.
The villages are also close to Banmauk Town, so the risk of junta troops advancing from there was another reason locals hesitated to return. Banmauk was under the control of the junta and its ally, the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), until September 2025, when resistance forces captured the town.
Banmauk Town is currently under the joint control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF), but locals pointed out that the threat of junta airstrikes still looms.
Previously, junta troops were deployed at five locations in Indaw Township: the town itself, Nantthar Village, Maw Luu Town, Nabar intersection, and a cave that Japanese troops had converted into a military hospital during World War II.
The junta position in Maw Luu Town had been under resistance control since December 13, 2023. Resistance forces later captured the Nantthar Village position on June 28, 2024, followed by the Nabar intersection position on August 24, 2024. In April 2025, they also seized the Japan Cave military site on the Shwbo–Myitkyina Road, a key location for Indaw’s security, along with the garrison in Indaw Town, effectively making Indaw Township a junta-free zone.
Located on the Shwebo–Myitkyina Road and part of Katha District, Indaw Town had a population of over 120,000 according to the 2014 census.
