A comrade from the local defense force _ participating in the town capture battle _ told MPA that the military junta used chemical bombs in the attacks on Kanni town on the western bank of the Chindwin River, Yinmarbin District, Sagaing Region, at around 3:00 p.m. on March 5.
The local defense forces attacked, at the same time, the junta troops _ stationed at the Kani Township’s Police Station, Administration Office, High School, Shwezigon Hill _ and the villages of Yelaekyun where are strong of the junta’s Pyu Saw Htee militias at 4:00 a.m. of March 2.
After the junta abandoned the places where they were stationed, they attacked with airstrikes and the use of chemical bombs, according to the comrades from the local defense forces.
“It was dropped by airplanes on neighborhoods inside the towns, and it was also dropped with chemical bombs at 3 p.m. yesterday, and the junta’s planes continuously dropped bombs,” said a comrade participating in the Kani capture battle.
The PDF joint forces are attacking to seize the town of Kani, and the junta military is also fiercely defending with airstrikes and heavy weapons, he said.
Therefore, locals said that more than 10,000 local residents from Kani township and the villages of Mingon, Nyaung Pinwon, Shan Myaung, Taze Chaung, Pansai, Nga Phet, Muhtaw, Taminchan, Nyaung Thu, Kane and Kyun Phar.
“The junta plane dropped bombs inside the town because they thought there might be PDFs in the town. There are still people who are trapped in the town,” a displaced man from Kani township told MPA.
“The town has not been captured yet. The junta troops are fiercely resisting. We are also trying to get it. As for controlling military news, that is all we can say,” a PDF comrade participating in the town capture battle said on reports that PDF joint forces have taken control of Kani town.
The two junta’s planes bombed the villages of Mingon and Taze Chaung on March 5, and opened fire with a machine gun, killing a man from Mingon village and destroying houses in the villages, according to a resident from Kani town.
“The junta’s plane came and bombed 20 times per day. We feared it, so we took what we could carry and fled to safety. I do not even dare to think about what was happening in the town,” said an IDP woman living in Kani Township.
Kani town _ where is taking place the town capture battle _ is located on the banks of the Chindwin River, and it borders the townships of Pale, Gangaw, Budalin, Yinmarbin, Ye-U, and Min Kin.