Kachin armed group battles Myanmar junta forces for control of Bhamo

The military carried out airstrikes on Kachin State’s second-largest town on Monday morning in an ongoing effort to repel an offensive led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), according to local sources. Junta aircraft dropped bombs east of the Bhamo General Hospital after clashes began there that morning, residents of the town said. “Fighting broke out near the hospital at around 7:30am, then got more intense,” a man living in Bhamo Township said. “A Y-12 aircraft dropped bombs at around 9am.” The KIA fighters were joined by members of the Kuki National Army, Kachin People’s Defence Force, All Burma Student Defence Force (ABSDF), and the Gurkha Battalion in their battle for control of the town, which is located around 25 miles west of the Chinese border. Most of the town is under the control of the KIA-led forces after battles that have continued since December 4, according to members of the Bhamo People’s Defence Force (Bhamo-PDF) and other local sources. Sources also noted that the anti-junta fighter had attacked the Myanmar army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 47 base located on the southern edge of Bhamo, as well as besieging the army’s Military Operations Command 21 (MOC-21) headquarters on the north side of town. “Battles are still raging at the IB 47 base, the MOC-21, and junta support bases on the road between Bhamo and Mansi,” a Bhamo-PDF representative told Myanmar Now. “Fighting was fierce at IB 47 all night last Friday,” a Bhamo resident said on Monday. “The base was on the verge of falling when the air force intervened to defend it.” Anticipating an escalation of violence in the coming days, the anti-regime forces have barred residents from entering Bhamo while the clashes continue, locals said. “I went inside the town on Saturday and saw several damaged houses and shops near Thiri Yadanar market,” a displaced man said, referring to the largest market in the town. A high school also sustained damage in assaults by the junta air force last week. Some residents, including elderly people, remain trapped inside the town, while displaced people from Bhamo are struggling to find shelters in Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, which remains under junta control. “Nearly all the monasteries in Mandalay are overcrowded with displaced people and some monasteries won’t allow us to stay,” a displaced woman from Bhamo Township said. Some displaced people from another Kachin State town, Momauk, have also been forced to leave their shelters in Bhamo after taking refuge in the town since May. “This is the second time we’ve had to move,” said one displaced man, a father of two children, before adding, “We are currently staying in a monastery about 12 miles from Mandalay, but we have to rely on ourselves for food and are struggling to make ends meet.” According KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu, the KIA also captured a pro-junta militia outpost in Khaunglanhpu Township in Kachin State’s northernmost district on Sunday evening, As clashes have grown fiercer in Kachin State and forced more civilians from their homes, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO)—for which the KIA serves as an armed wing—has been engaged in negotiations with the Chinese officials. KIO leaders reportedly met last week with high-ranking representatives of the Chinese government, which has been pressuring anti-junta ethnic armed groups in Myanmar to lay down their arms. As part of this pressure, China shut down all gates on KIA-held segments of its border with Kachin State on October 18, cutting off overland trade. Although Chinese authorities declared the border crossings open again last Friday, no traffic had been permitted through the gates as of Friday afternoon, according to KIA spokespersons. With the capture of the border trade town of Kanpaikti (Kan Paik Ti) on November 20, the KIA gained full control over a territory formerly designated as ‘Kachin Special Region 1’, which was under the semi-autonomous control of a junta-backed border guard militia led by warlord Zahkung Ting Ying. At the end of November, the KIO abolished the ‘special region’ designation for the territory—which serves as a lucrative source of rare earth minerals exported to China—and began to install its own administrative apparatus in the area.

Kachin armed group battles Myanmar junta forces for control of Bhamo

Fighting intensified between the military and forces led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) days after Chinese officials reopened crossings on the China-Kachin State border that had been closed for trade and travel since October

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