Over the following three days the army tried to bring reinforcements. But the Mindat militia used their familiarity with the hilly terrain to ambush two military convoys, destroying several trucks and claiming to kill 15 soldiers. The army agreed to a ceasefire on 27 April, and later that night released the seven activists, in return for the CDF freeing 20 trapped soldiers. Police and army units then withdrew from Mindat, and most of the fighting stopped for the next two weeks. However, the army's demand that its troops be allowed access to Mindat, and the demand by the CDF for all five remaining activists to be released, appear to have triggered fresh clashes on 12 May. A day later the junta declared martial law in Mindat, and began firing more shells, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades into the town. The CDF retaliated by ambushing another military convoy of six trucks, burning five and seizing the weapons. Some soldiers were killed, the rest fled. To get around its vulnerability to ambushes the army began using helicopters to bring in reinforcements. On 15 May soldiers again entered the town, reportedly using civilians as human shields, and the CDF fighters decided to withdraw to the surrounding forests, accompanied by thousands of residents. "We are running for our lives", one activist told the BBC. "Thousands are in the forest. Only babies and old people are left in the town. Almost all the young people have taken up weapons and joined the CDF". Around 2,000 displaced people are now living in four rudimentary camps next to small villages that are several hours walk from Mindat. They are running very low on food, have few materials to build shelters in the monsoon rain, and are worried about the lack of treatment for those wounded in the battle. Many other residents of the town are believed to be dispersed in the area around the town. The CDF says it is regrouping, and planning its next move, which it hopes can be coordinated with other CDF units in Chin State. It is likely its traditional Tumi guns are now being augmented with more modern weapons captured from the army, given by defectors, or possibly acquired from other armed groups operating in Myanmar and India, which may also have given some of the CDF volunteers training in the use of those weapons. The extensive fighting seen in Chin areas of Myanmar may herald the start of a new stage in the conflict between the junta which seized power in February, and its many opponents.