Junta forces carried out air and ground attacks Tuesday afternoon on the Ka Thine Hill base southwest of Hpakant, Kachin State, previously taken over by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) forces.
A military jet bombed the base about four times, and fighting broke out on the ground outside the nearby village of Nam Hmaw, Hpakant Township, according to a 40-year-old local man with connections in the KIA.
“They dropped bombs at around 3pm. They also fired heavy artillery from the ground. The battle is still going on outside Nam Hmaw, near the 300-ton jade block,” the local man said on Tuesday evening.
The attacks on Ka Thine Hill began the day after the Kachin armed group successfully overran the base, along with another army outpost near Nam Hmaw and one belonging to the junta-allied Shanni Nationalities Army near Sezin village, Hpakant Township, located on the Sagaing Region border some 30 miles to the southwest.
A 30-year-old woman living in Nam Hmaw said local people had been displaced to the neighbouring village of Hseng Taung by the military’s heavy shelling during the battle on Monday, and that the resumed fighting had forced the village residents to flee a second time.
“We returned to the village this morning and were staying there quietly, but airstrikes came later, as expected,” the Nam Hmaw resident said.
Hundreds of Nam Hmaw residents are now staying in Hmaw Yang and other nearby villages, with only a few remaining behind.
Myanmar Now has yet to receive confirmation from the KIA about the battles.
KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu said on August 7 that the armed group had seized the three bases from junta forces in Hpakant Township, and had begun conducting area clearing operations.
Local news outlets claimed that the KIA arrested a junta officer and several relatives found at one of the bases, and that several junta soldiers had been killed. However, Myanmar Now has not confirmed these claims or information about casualties independently.
Fighting between the the ethnic armed organisation and junta forces has intensified in KIA-controlled areas following the 2021 military coup in Myanmar.
According to data maintained by the research organisation International Institute of Strategic Studies, more than 350 battles and more than 40 drone and airstrikes have taken place on the northeastern front of Myanmar’s internal conflict, which includes all of Kachin State, since the beginning of this year.
