40 Burmese soldiers killed in fighting with KIA

Over 40 Burmese government soldiers were killed in three-days of military clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Namsan Pa, in eastern Kachin State, Northern Burma, said sources from the frontlines.

Government soldiers were killed in fighting with the KIA during ongoing fighting at the area around Namsan Yang Village, on the Myitkyina-Manmaw (Bhamo) Highway, since Wednesday, Sept. 14, local villagers said.

The battalions of the dead soldiers have not been identified. However, military columns from Myitkyina-based Infantry Battalion No. 37 and Numlang-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 438 are operating the area, according to KIA officers at the Laiza headquarters, about 8 miles east of Namsan.

Skirmishes are happening and troops are circling each other day and night, when over 200 government troops returned from their strategic frontline post at Nahpaw Bum, the former headquarters of the KIA, on Wednesday, said KIA officers.

The KIA has suffered a small number of casualties but the exact figure has not been released by the KIA.

On Thursday, one Burmese soldier was killed in fighting with KIA troops near Nam Hpak Hka Village on the road connecting the Taping (Dapein) dams in N’mawk (Momauk) Township, in Manmaw district, said local villagers.

An MA-2 gun along with other military equipment was also captured by the KIA, witnesses said.

The KIA, the strongest ethnic army in Burma after United Wa State Army (UWSA) and chair of the ethnic political and military alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council of Burma (UNFC), has resisted the Burmese Army’s offensive with guerrilla tactics since June.

The KIA is demanding a country-wide ceasefire and an immediate political dialogue based in the 1947 Panglong Agreement, the treaty forming a multiethnic union. However, this has never been accepted by the central government.