Burmese soldier commits suicide at Waingmaw military base

A Burmese soldier committed suicide with his weapon on August 10 at Waingmaw Military Base in, Kachin State, according to witnesses.

The suicide took place at the Waingmaw-based Infantry Battalion No. 58, at 3 a.m. local time, local witnesses told the Kachin News Group.

A resident of Waingmaw said he heard the sound of a gunshot from the military base.

According to eyewitnesses, the dead soldier’s body was carried from the military base by motorcycle rickshaw to the nearby military cemetery at about 7 a.m.

The soldier was from Infantry Battalion No. 21, based at Myitkyina, and had no family, sources close to him said.

During fighting between Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops and IB No. 21, at Hkaya, near the KIO Laiza headquarters on July 21, over 20 soldiers were killed and 7 were captured by the KIA.

The captive soldiers were freed by the KIA on August 2, the first day of meetings between KIO and Burmese government delegates at the KIO Liaison office at Lajayang.