KIA captures southern Kachin State town near Chinese border

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied forces say they have taken full control of Mansi, a town located near the China-Myanmar border in southern Kachin State, after more than a month of fighting. The KIA-led forces began launching coordinated attacks on bases near the town on December 4 as part of a wider offensive centred on the city of Bhamo, about 14 miles northwest of Mansi. “We received confirmation from the frontline that the KIA’s combined forces captured the Light Infantry Battalion 319 and 601 and Artillery Unit 532 bases in Mansi at around 11am,” KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on Wednesday. The KIA and allied Kachin People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters captured most of Mansi in May of last year, but were unable until now to overrun the three bases north of the town. During the fighting on Wednesday, the regime conducted about 20 airstrikes, while military aircraft were also seen circling over the KIA stronghold of Laiza, on the Chinese border, according to KIA sources. The anti-junta forces reportedly seized several large caches of weapons and ammunition from the captured bases, but no casualty figures were available at the time of reporting. Now that they are in full control of Mansi, the allied forces are expected to intensify their attacks on Bhamo, which hosts several battalions, including Infantry Battalions 236 and 47, Artillery Units 336 and 304, and Tank Unit 5014. The regime’s Military Operations Command 21 (MOC-21) is also headquartered there. The KIA and its allies already control most of Bhamo, forcing junta troops to retreat to the MOC-21 base in the north of the city, according to KIA sources. Currently, the junta is defending Bhamo with airstrikes, while the KIA and allied forces are targeting the MOC-21 base with heavy artillery, the sources added. According to Captain Zin Yaw, a defector from Myanmar’s military, the MOC-21 is the junta’s second-largest military command centre in Kachin State, after the Northern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquartered in the state capital Myitkyina. “MOC-21 is like a small regional command centre. You could say it’s the largest after the Northern RMC in Myitkyina. So it will take some time to capture,” he said. The KIA has also been engaged in major clashes in Waingmaw Township, opposite Myitkyina on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River. Airstrikes and heavy artillery fire were reported in the area last Friday. Since launching its current offensive in March of last year, the KIA has captured 13 towns in Kachin State and one in Shan State. Other ethnic armed groups control almost all of northern Shan State and Rakhine State, while eight towns in Sagaing and Mandalay regions have fallen to PDF forces under the command of the National Unity Government (NUG). According to the NUG’s Ministry of Defence, 144 townships are now fully or partly under the control of resistance groups, including ethnic armed organisations.

KIA captures southern Kachin State town near Chinese border

The fall of Mansi to KIA-led forces on Wednesday is expected to bring an intensification of clashes for control of Bhamo

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