Myanmar junta loses more bases in Kachin State to KIA, allies

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies have captured nearly a dozen major bases in Kachin State since late last week, according to the group’s spokesperson, Col. Naw Bu. Attacks carried out as part of a new offensive that began on March 7 have targeted military positions near the state capital Myitikyina, as well as in Putao and Sumprabum townships to the north, Bhamo and Momauk townships to the south, Waingmaw Township to the east, and Hpakant Township to the west. Major clashes have also broken out near the Myitkyina-Bhamo highway west of Laiza, the town on the Chinese border where the KIA’s headquarters are located, according to Naw Bu. Junta bases on the Khara and Bum Re hills about four miles west of Laiza were among those that have fallen in recent days, he said. The bases were used to fire heavy artillery into the town. Four bases near Lajayang, a town about five miles west of Laiza, have also been captured, he added. In Waingmaw Township, a junta drone attack carried out during clashes near the village of Aung Myay (2) on Saturday killed two elderly civilians and injured three others, sources there reported. Hundreds of villagers from the area were subsequently trapped in Aung Myay (2) after junta troops prevented them from fleeing to the township’s administrative centre, a local man reported. He added that at least some were escorted out of the village on Monday by members of the Kachin Baptist Convention, but others are still unable to leave. “There are still some people who can’t get out, but I don’t know the exact number,” said the man, who is from one of the affected villages. “They’re still there because the military won’t let them leave,” he added. Naw Bu said the KIA was investigating the situation. Civilian casualties were also reported in Hpakant Township, where junta shelling killed a woman in her 20s and her five-year-old child in the village of Nam Hkaw on Monday, according to an officer of the Hpakant Kachin People’s Defence Force, an ally of the KIA. The regime forces responsible for that incident had been intercepted near Nam Hkaw as they were trying to reach the town of Hpakant after abandoning a base about 18 miles to the west, the officer said. “They were trying to get to Hpakant, but we wouldn’t let them, so fighting broke out. Their heavy artillery fire killed the civilians,” he told Myanmar Now, adding that the fighting was still ongoing. Junta artillery fire also reportedly killed two employees of a gemstone company in the nearby village of Hseng Taung.

Myanmar junta loses more bases in Kachin State to KIA, allies

Serious fighting has been reported across a wide area of the state as part of a new anti-regime offensive that began late last week

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