Fighting escalates as Myanmar army reaches outskirts of Hpakant

Regime troops advancing from the east have reached Lone Hkin village tract outside the jade-producing city of Hpakant, Kachin State, leading to clashes on Wednesday morning with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies, locals said. With KIA-led forces in control of all major roads into Hpakant, effectively besieging it, troops have been advancing to reconnect with and provide an outlet for other junta troops trapped in isolated outposts inside the city. Some 600 troops initiated their approach to Hpakant along the Hpakant-Kamaing road on April 23. A column of around 100 reached the village tract of Lel Pyin on the eastern edge of Hpakant on Tuesday of this week. Fighting broke out as the column advanced from Lel Pyin into Lone Hkin village on the west bank of the Uyu River on Wednesday morning from Lelpyin village, according to a man in his 30s living in Hpakant. “The military column that came out yesterday took up positions in Lel Pyin and clashed with the anti-junta groups. The fighting happened at Lel Pyin, Nyein Chan Thar Yar, Myauk Kone, and around the police stations,” he said. Control of Lel Pyin would allow the junta access to Lone Hkin village, which if taken would in turn open access to Hpakant proper. Another Hpakant Township resident in his 40s said that, based on the sounds of the gunfire, the fighting lasted around an hour after breaking out around 8am, then stopped for a few minutes before resuming and continuing until around 10am. “The situation is very bad. Now the junta soldiers have entered all the way to Lone Hkin,” the man living in Hpakant said on Wednesday. “They’re right on top of the Lone Hkin bridge. Anti-junta troops are firing from this side, from the creek bank, but now army vehicles have reached the Lone Hkin-Hpakant road.” The junta troops shelled the area around them from the Hpakant tactical hill base after arriving at the edge of Hpakant on Tuesday, hitting and opening a crack in the Lel Pyin bridge, the man added. “Coming from the direction of Myitkyina, you arrive at the bridge between the Lone Hkin entrance and Lel Pyin,” he said. “It's just a village bridge, not a big bridge but a small one. That bridge was damaged by artillery fire from the Hpakant tactical hill base.” While the artillery damaged some civilian homes in Lel Pyin, the man said there had been no word of civilian casualties. According to the younger Hpakant resident, most civilians managed to evacuate Lel Pyin before the junta troops arrived, but some waited too long and remained trapped in the village amid the fighting on Wednesday morning. “Now they can’t flee. The road sections are blocked,” he said. “People from around the Hmaw Si Zar area in Hpakant can’t get into Lone Hkin, and people from Lone Hkin can’t get out.” KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu confirmed that junta troops had moved into Hpakant Township’s Lone Hkin village tract this morning, and that junta forces were carrying out artillery strikes as part of their territorial clearing operations. “We don’t yet know which base the military columns are aiming to enter. We’ve heard they’re staying positioned near Lone Hkin. Fighting will continue,” Col. Naw Bu added. KIA-led forces had attacked the junta’s rearguard troops in Hseng Hpa Yar village some ten miles east of Lone Hkin on Tuesday, leading to clashes. “Yesterday the anti-junta forces attacked the garrison that the columns had left behind as a rear guard,” the younger Hpakant resident told Myanmar Now on Wednesday. “They retaliated with artillery strikes, and we’ve heard that two children were killed in Hseng Hpa Yar.” Col. Naw Bu confirmed there had been reports of civilian casualties in Hseng Hpa Yar but said the exact details had yet to be verified. He also confirmed that there had been clashes on the Bhamo front on the southern side of the state, a site of ongoing clashes between the KIA and junta, but said information about the fighting was still unconfirmed.

Fighting escalates as Myanmar army reaches outskirts of Hpakant

Some civilians were unable to flee in time and remained trapped as junta troops, having fought their way into Lone Hkin village tract on the eastern edge of Hpakant, fired artillery into the surrounding area

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