KIA takes full control of road from Momauk to Chinese border

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said on Monday that it had captured the last junta outpost along a 50-mile stretch of road from the Kachin State town of Momauk to the Chinese border. The group and its allies began launching attacks in the area west of the border town of Lwegel on March 27, quickly overrunning six army camps, including the Yaw Yung Bum tactical hill camp. By Sunday, it had captured several other, smaller outposts and had begun attacking the Seinlone tactical hill camp—the last one still under regime control, according to KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu. “We started attacking yesterday and engaged in combat through the night. The junta carried out a number of airstrikes, but by 7:30 this morning, the Seinlone base was in KIA hands,” he said, speaking to Myanmar Now on Monday. According to a local man, regime troops based in Momauk, about 20 miles to the west, also fired heavy artillery throughout the night to prevent the camp from falling to the anti-junta forces. “The army was shelling all night long. Some shells landed on villages near the camp. Some landed in the forest, igniting fires. Local people hiding in the woods were too terrified to return to their homes,” said the man, who did not want to be identified. He added that large numbers of regime reinforcements have been arriving in the combat zone by air since the fighting started. “They’ve been using helicopters to bring more troops into the area over the past three days. There are about 100 here now, plus maybe more that we don’t know about,” he said. Last Friday, there were reports that a number of soldiers stationed in Lwegel had opened fire on the KIA-led forces before attempting to flee across the border into China, where they were denied entry, according to a local news outlet. Some locals said that the KIA and its allies have amassed forces around the foothills of Momauk and are advising residents and displaced civilians to leave the area. The intensifying clashes near Lwegel have also forced many living there to flee. According to Naw Bu, an airstrike on the village of Janman, west of Lwegel, at around 1am on Monday hit a number of trucks that had been parked there overnight, killing five civilians and injuring three. “There was no fighting anywhere near where it happened. There were no KIA camps or junta troops nearby. It was just a place where travellers stop,” he said. Regarding reports that Chinese authorities have been pressuring the KIA not to bring their fight all the way to Lwegel—one of five official border crossings on the Kachin-China border—Naw Bu said only that his superiors had not issued any notification about it. The KIA and allied forces launched their current offensive in Kachin State on March 7. Since then, they have taken control of the town of Sinbo, about 60 miles south of state capital Myitkyina, and captured dozens of army camps. Most of the fighting has been along the 120-mile Myitkyina-Bhamo road, which lies just west of the town of Laiza, where the KIA’s headquarters are located. However, major clashes have also taken place near the town of Sumprabum, about 125 miles north of Myitkyina, and several bases have been captured near the jade-mining town of Hpakant, west of the Kachin capital.

KIA takes full control of road from Momauk to Chinese border

At least five civilians were reportedly killed by a junta airstrike carried out on Monday to prevent the last army outpost in the area from falling to anti-regime forces

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