Burma army denies Pangwa airstrikes, says helicopters were bringing exams

Lt-Gen Myint Soe, commander of Burmese government's military offensive operation in Kachin regions

 Speaking on the sidelines of yesterday's peace talks in the Chinese town of Ruili, Lieutenant General Myint Soe a senior official with Burma's Defense Ministry denied allegations first reported by the Kachin News Group that jet fighters conducted airstrikes on Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) positions near Pangwa last week.

According to General Myint Soe some army helicopters did fly over Pangwa last week but they were airlifting exam papers for 10th standard students and rations for the army. General Myint Soe made the comments to a reporter from Weekly Eleven, a privately owned Burmese paper based in Rangoon.

Located north east of the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, the Pangwa region is the former stronghold of the now officially defunct New Democratic Army Kachin (NDAK), a militia group whose troops were adsorbed by the government's border force in 2010.

A largely paved road connecting Myitkyina to the Chinese town of Tengchong that passed through Pangwa was one of the busiest trade routes in Burma until the Kachin conflict resumed in June 2011. Since the KIO destroyed a series of bridges along the Pangwa to Myitkyina route some 20 months ago much of the cross border trade in Kachin state has been brought to a standstill.

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