More than 1,000 displaced as fighting escalates near Hpakant, Kachin State

Battles near the jade-producing city of Hpakant, Kachin State have forced hundreds of civilians in a nearby village to flee their homes since Saturday, local residents and Kachin anti-junta fighters said. According to a Hpakant resident in his 40s, local civilians have been forced to flee by junta aerial and artillery strikes after fighting spread to Hway Hkar, located some 12 miles southwest of Hpakant. The junta’s air and artillery attacks on Hway Hkar occurred amid a series of intensifying clashes between the military and anti-junta Kachin armed groups. At around 6am on Saturday, members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Kachin Region People’s Defence Force (Kachin PDF) launched a joint attack on an army base and police station near Hway Hkar. The alliance of anti-junta forces succeeded in taking control of the police station after around two hours of fighting. As they continued their assault on the nearby junta base, a fighter plane flew over the battlefield and initiated an airstrike, according to a Kachin PDF fighter. “It happened after we had seized the police station and were regrouping,” the anti-junta fighter said. “We had managed to take over half of the army encampment by then, but the junta plane started to attack us. Civilians were also affected by the airstrike.” The Kachin forces stopped their attack at around 2pm in response to the airstrikes, but resumed fighting for the army’s base camp in the evening. Junta aircraft bombed the area of battle some five times that say, damaging civilian homes in Hway Hkar village and potentially harming residents. However, the number of civilian casualties from the airstrikes could not be independently verified. At around 7pm the next evening, the combined forces of the KIA and Kachin PDF intercepted a column of junta reinforcement troops en route from Hpakant to an army base camp outside of town. The fighting lasted for about two hours, ending when the junta column withdrew. "The column retreated and we didn't know where they went," the Kachin PDF fighter said. "We thought they must be trying to set up a temporary base in Hway Hkar.” He added that during the clashes in Hpakant Township, at least three KIA and Kachin PDF fighters had sustained injuries, but there had been no deaths. The number of casualties on the junta side is unknown. According to another Kachin PDF fighter, at 4:30am on Monday, the combined anti-junta Kachin forces initiated an attack on a temporary junta base camp in Hway Hkar, which the soldiers attempted to fend off using heavy artillery. Junta aircraft flew in again around 10am, bombing the area around the camp. "The fight has been going on since this morning. Our forces have not retreated and we have to keep working to capture the base," the anti-junta fighter said on Monday afternoon. According to the Hway Hkar resident who spoke with Myanmar Now, about 200 of the village’s displaced residents are now seeking refuge in the village of Tar Ma Hkan, around 17 miles away, while about 1,000 have fled to Hseng Taung, some six miles away. “Now more than 1,000 of our residents are sheltering in monasteries and churches in Hseng Taung. There are injured people among them," the man said. Fighting between the military anti-junta forces was already ongoing before the recent escalation of fighting near Hpakant. KIA troops in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, in 2016 (Photo: AFP) On January 3, Kachin Independence Army (KIA) fighters succeeded in shooting down a junta helicopter thought to be carrying supplies to junta forces of Laiza, Kachin State, the location of the KIA’s base. Three days later, KIA fighters joined by members of the Kachin PDF captured a junta army base located on the Hpakant-Kamaing road near Namya village, Hpakant Township. Kachin State has been a stronghold of anti-junta armed groups since the 2021 coup, with the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation, consistently reaffirming their commitment to bringing down the military dictatorship.

More than 1,000 displaced as fighting escalates near Hpakant, Kachin State

Junta air and artillery strikes during clashes with the joint forces of the KIA and Kachin PDF have displaced hundreds of residents of Hway Hkar village, Hpakant Township

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