Kachin Army attacks Burmese military convoy

Troops of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked a Burmese military convoy on the Mandalay-Muse border trade route along the Chinese border in Northern Shan State on Thursday afternoon at around 2 p.m., said eyewitnesses.

The convoy was attacked with land mines and small arms by KIA soldiers of battalion 9 near Homong village, 15 miles south of the Burmese border trade town Muse, when it was heading back to Mandalay, said local eye witnesses.

The attack lasted a short time, they added.

The exact number of casualties in the convoy was not known but several injured soldiers were admitted to Muse hospital in cars, according to eyewitnesses.

A KIA official in Laiza headquarters in Kachin State said the attack was mounted to prevent Burmese military movement in the territory of the KIA’s Battalion 9 under Loikang-based KIA’s Brigade 4.

The attack came a day after hundreds of Burmese soldiers in civilian clothes crossed into Chinese territory from the Muse check gate, which connects the Chinese border town Ruili (Shweli).

The attack was carried out even as KIA and Burmese officials met for peace talks at Lajayang village in Dawhpumyang sub-township in Manmaw (Bhamo) district in Kachin State.