Myanmar military fighting to retake outposts seized by Kachin forces in Bhamo

Military forces in Bhamo Township on Thursday conducted counterattacks on outposts that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies had taken over the day before Bhamo, Kachin State, locals said. A Kachin man with connections in the KIA said that battles had been ongoing in Bhamo since the previous Monday, and that an alliance of forces led by the KIA had seized the outposts on Wednesday near the Kachin Baptist Convention on the east side of town. The battle for the outposts had been fierce, he added, with the junta troops even deploying high-tech drones before they were forced to withdraw and regroup near the town exit around a mile away. “The battle was intense, with exchanges of fire between the drones,” the local man said, adding that clashes were ongoing in the area as of Thursday. Several of the military’s support units, including including Field Medical Battalion 11, Signal Battalion 5, Supply and Transport Battalion 933, and Engineering Battalion 914, have bases on the east side of Bhamo Township, which may give the junta forces an advantage in recovering the outposts they lost, he said. “It may be just a temporary withdrawal. The military are still firing artillery and could try to storm the outposts soon, once reinforcements arrive.” The KIA has been explicitly coordinating its operations against the military with groups in other parts of the country since last year, including the Arakan Army and People’s Defence Forces, commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government. Forces led by the KIA clashed with the military for control of Bhamo for 10 months while continuing a broader offensive in other parts of Kachin State. They ultimately succeeded in capturing 15 towns from the military in Kachin State and adjacent areas of northern Shan State. After the junta sent supplies to its troops in the Bhamo area by river and air, the military took back three battalion bases that the KIA-led forces had captured, along with the local airport and several of the town’s wards. The military regime claimed in a public statement on September 11 that it had gained the upper hand in Bhamo. Nonetheless, the KIA and allies have continued offensive operations in the town, KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on Monday. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has been counterattacking in Bhamo Town since late September to reclaim lost outposts, KIA information officer Colonel Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on September 29.

Myanmar military fighting to retake outposts seized by Kachin forces in Bhamo

Fighters led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have taken over several of the military regime’s security outposts near the Kachin Baptist Convention on Bhamo’s east side

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