An alliance of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters launched a series of attacks on bases and other junta targets in and near Kachin State’s Hpakant Township last week, according to local sources.
A Hpakant resident with ties to the PDF said the allied forces attacked a police station in the village of Maw Si Sar at around 8pm on January 25.
“The clash didn’t last long. Junta forces in Lone Khin only started firing heavy artillery after the revolutionary forces torched the police station and left,” he said. Lone Khin, or Lawng Hkang, is located just across the Uru River from Maw Si Sar.
The next day, the resistance forces carried out three more attacks, including one in Hpakant, one on a base west of the village of Nam Hai in neighbouring Mogaung Township, and another on an outpost near the border of Hpakant in Sagaing Region’s Homalin Township.
The target of the Hpakant attack was a tactical base in the town of Kamaing. There were reports of heavy shelling from the base, but further details were not available at the time of reporting.
The attack near Nam Hai, which is located on the road between Hpakant and Myitkyina, was reportedly initiated by the KIA’s Battalion 44, under the command of Brigade 9.
According to a village resident, the fighting began before dawn and continued until around 9am.
“We don’t know who was doing the shooting, but we could hear gunfire until morning. An artillery shell fell on the road at the edge of the village but didn’t detonate,” he said.
Several Nam Hai inhabitants fled the village out of fear that the battles would resume, but most returned in the afternoon, he added.
The third attack also took place before dawn and targeted an outpost shared by the military and the Shanni Nationalities Army, an ethnic army aligned with the junta.
The outpost, located about 6km south of the Hpakant Township village of Sezin in Homalin Township, was successfully overrun by the resistance forces, according to a local man.
“We started hearing the sound of machine guns and heavy artillery at around four in the morning,” said the man, adding that he didn’t know how many casualties there were from the fighting.
The clash raised fears in Sezin of another raid like the one that devastated the village last August and left several residents dead. Villagers said they had only recently returned after fleeing last year’s violence.
Meanwhile, there were also local media reports of serious fighting between the KIA and a junta column in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township at around 10 am on January 25.
Myanmar Now attempted to contact KIA information officer Colonel Naw Bu for details about the recent clashes, but did not receive a response.
