As the military continues fighting to recapture territory in Kachin State from forces led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Bhamo Township in the south of the state is bearing the brunt of the military’s counteroffensive.
Having begun nearly a year ago in December 2024, the battle for Bhamo is ongoing, with fierce clashes erupting periodically inside the township’s urban wards. The KIA has fallen back from several low-priority positions in Bhamo in what it claims is a strategic withdrawal.
The military intensified airstrikes, artillery barrages, and drone strikes targeting KIA-led forces in the town this month, according to KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu.
“We see that they are exerting their full effort on the ground to reclaim their territories,” Col. Naw Bu said. “While they might retake some minor positions, the battle is far from over.”
He added that the KIA and allies have retained control of its strongholds in Bhamo even as it withdrew from parts of the town.
“We have held onto our strongest outposts and camps, but have not been able to capture any additional enemy positions,” he said.
Regime forces regained control of three outposts in the Bhamo area—the Artillery Battalion 366, Tank Battalion 5014, and Infantry Battalion 236 bases—in September after sending a flotilla of warships up the Ayeyarwady to Bhamo, carrying reinforcements.
Eleven of the Myanmar military’s battalion bases and company headquarters are located in Bhamo Township, and the KIA lacks sufficient manpower to maintain full control there despite support from allied resistance forces.
Kachin State-based People’s Defence Forces (Kachin PDF) under the command of the anti-junta National Unity Government make up most of the allied forces supporting the KIA in Bhamo. Since April, around 100 fighters from a PDF battalion based in Sagaing Region’s Mingin Township have also joined forces with the KIA in Kachin State.
A deputy battalion commander and 14 other members of the Mingin battalion have been killed in the fighting in Bhamo as of the end of October, resistance sources said.
Clashes in Waingmaw and Hpakant
While the fiercest fighting in Kachin State is centred in Bhamo Township, battles are also ongoing in Waingmaw Township east of the state’s junta-controlled capital, Myitkyina, and in Hpakant Township, a jade-mining hub to the northwest.
KIA-led forces intercepted a junta column near the village of Lu Myan some seven miles east of Waingmaw at around 9am on Monday, according to a local man connected to the KIA.
In the ensuing exchange of fire, two civilian men were injured when shells struck the neighbouring village of Wu Yang.
“One, around 50 years old, is in critical condition, while the other is in stable condition,” the KIA-connected source said. “Both were taken to Myitkyina Hospital. The clash was brief, but the shellfire was intense.”
Col. Naw Bu confirmed that junta forces have been firing on the area around Lu Myan continuously using artillery and drones.
“The situation is the same in Lu Myan and Waingmaw. They launched artillery and ground attacks yesterday and this morning they fired artillery from Myitkyina,” he said last Tuesday.
In Hpakant, local civilians also said the military had been deploying artillery and drones in addition to sending more troops to the area.
A member of Kachin PDF was reportedly killed last Tuesday during a series of junta drone strikes on villages outside Hpakant, but details remain unconfirmed.
A column of nearly 100 troops is also reportedly advancing towards the centre of Hpakant from Long Hkin, a village east of the town, and clashes on the Hpakant-Kamaing road seem likely, according to Col. Naw Bu.
The military regime has announced plans to hold elections in the areas where it has established control throughout Myanmar in late December and January.
Local KIA-affiliated media have reported 24 combat engagements in Hpakant, Waingmaw, and Bhamo townships in the third week of November. Despite the ongoing clashes, these townships are among the territories where the junta has scheduled elections.
The KIA and its allies captured 15 towns and hundreds of junta outposts after launching a broad-based campaign against the military in early 2024. The junta’s counteroffensive in Kachin State is part of a wider, countrywide push to retake territory from resistance and anti-junta ethnic armed groups ahead of the election.
