Myanmar junta continues to face Kachin Independence Army attacks

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies have continued attacks on Myanmar army bases in Momauk, Myitkyina, and Sumprabum townships in Kachin State. An officer in one such allied group, the Kachin Region People's Defence Force (PDF), said that they aimed to next overtake junta camps near the villages of Konelaw and Sihet in Momauk. Both bases are located on the road connecting the state capital of Myitkyina with Bhamo, along which the resistance forces have seized more than 30 military posts since launching a renewed offensive against the junta on March 7. The base near Konelaw is under Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 387 and the one near Sihet is under LIB 320. “The two camps have not been captured yet, but we were able to seize another artillery unit located west of them,” the Kachin PDF officer said, calling the operation “ongoing.” Due to a lack of telecommunications services to the area, further details regarding the battles were not available at the time of reporting. KIA chief-of-staff Lt-Gen R Hkawng Lum and NUG defence minister Yee Mon make a March 20 visit to the Bumre Bum military camp captured by KIA and its allies (NUG Ministry of Defence) On March 21, the KIA and PDF seized two bases, including the strongly fortified base of LIB 438 in Nwanglang, around three miles north of Konelaw, and the next day launched an attack on the LIB 387 and 320 camps. They captured an artillery unit in Nwanglang on March 23 that had been heavily shelling the area since the clashes began. A man from Konelaw who had taken refuge from the fighting in another nearby community told Myanmar Now that since 7am on Monday, fighting between the two LIB camps had intensified, with heavy weapons fire and airstrikes heard throughout the area. “They used heavy artillery. A plane came too,” he said that afternoon. A church in Konelaw was damaged in the clashes, and a 14-year-old girl displaced to Myothit village two miles away was injured, the man added. The KIA has also been targeting an Infantry Battalion 141 camp near the town of Sinbo in Myitkyina Township since March 18. On March 20 alone, the junta reportedly dropped more than 60 bombs on the area from aircraft in an attempt to stop them. "It's not easy because we are trying to seize a camp where they have been based for 30 years, but we will be able to take it,” a frontline fighter from the Myohla PDF said, noting that there had been casualties on both sides. In Sumprabum, 125 miles north of Myitkyina, the KIA and PDF have continued to attack the junta’s tactical hill base north of the town after initially striking the site on March 14, and taking almost full control of the area despite heavy aerial bombardment by the military. The post is believed to be the last military position near Suprabum still under the control of the regime. KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu did not comment on the fighting around Sumprabum, but told Myanmar Now that the ethnic armed organisation’s forces had also captured three junta camps near Mong Hkawng village in Mansi Township as troops based there had retreated. Similarly, local media reported that the military abandoned another camp in Machanbaw Township on Sunday.

Myanmar junta continues to face Kachin Independence Army attacks

The ethnic armed organisation and its allies are focussing their assaults on military bases in at least three Kachin State townships

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