Mobye-PDF (People's Defense Forces - Mobye) has announced that the Mobye-Pekin Road will be closed indefinitely following a battle with Military Council troops who launched a major offensive in Mobye (Mongpai) Township on February 7th. A Mobye-PDF official explained that the Military Council was still active on that road, so it needed to be closed temporarily.

“Yesterday, the Military Council had a skirmish with us as they advanced to Mobye with massive force. They mainly used the Mobye-Pekin Road to attack us, so we had to close the road temporarily. Currently, their offensive has not stopped yet. In the past few days, several skirmishes broke out between us and them”, the official said.

Troops from both sides have been deployed throughout Mobye and clashes could break out at any time, hence Mobye-PDF has urged the public to temporarily avoid using the Mobye-Pekin Road to avoid the unnecessary damages.

“They have been active in Mobye since September. They have operated around Mobye since then and these days they have increased the speed of the operation. I can't tell if they did reinforcements because we launched more missions. Now is the situation to watch”, the Mobye-PDF official said.

A Military Council column that had been advancing from Warisu Palai village to Mobye retreated after heavy fighting with local defense forces on September 8th and 12th last year. A week later on September 19th, the Military Council troops split into two columns and attacked Mobye again, resulting in two battles.