Namkoi railway bridge blown up by KIA

The railway bridge on Namkoi River between Myitkyina and Mandalay, northern Burma was blown up after Tuesday midnight by mines triggered by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), said eyewitnesses.

The bridge was located about seven miles northwest of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

According to KIA officials in Laiza headquarters in eastern Kachin State the railway bridge was targeted because it was the main communication line for transporting the Burmese Army’s military reinforcements and supplies to Kachin State.

Another main transportation link for the military-backed Burmese government is by ships along the Irrawaddy Rive and the Mali Hka River in Kachin State.

The civil war in Kachin State and Northern Shan State has been on for 14 days. It started after government troops started a military offensive against the KIA at Sang Gang in N’mawk (Nomauk) Township in Manmaw (Bhamo) Township, on June 9.

The war broke out after the Burman-led central government ignored requests for a political dialogue with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA and pressurized to disarm the KIA. The Burmans are in a majority in multi-ethnic Burma.