The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked a military base in Mogaung township on Friday morning, triggering a counterattack that involved troops and helicopters in which four children were injured, residents said.
The offensive at the base in Nant Haing village came a day after the KIA ambushed a base near the village of Sal Zin and the military responded with fighter jets.
Both villages are in Mohnyin district, southwest of the state capital Myitkyina.
“Some locals have fled and some are hiding, but I don’t know the exact number,” the resident said. “About four children have been injured by bullets from the Myanmar military.”
The Tatmadaw retaliated to Friday’s attack with troops and two helicopters, the resident added.
A KIA member said the group’s central command had not ordered its troops to attack any military bases on Thursday.
“We are currently investigating why the commanders at the frontline are attacking,” said the member, who declined to be named. “We have issued instructions not to launch military offensives inside the town, not to seize the Myanmar military’s bases, and to avoid the villages and towns where civilians live.”
On Thursday the KIA similarly denied that it had issued an order to attack the base in Sal Zin.
Ten ethnic armed groups on Friday discussed ways to protect protesters who are being gunned down in the streets, detained and beaten by the regime.
The groups, who do not include the KIA and had all signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the military prior to the coup, have also declared their support for the Civil Disobedience Movement.
On Thursday the regime officially withdrew its designation of the Arakan Army as a terrorist organization after months of relative peace in Rakhine state.
Observers said the move was part of a divide and rule strategy to prevent rebel groups forming a united front in the wake of the coup.
