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Fighting between the Burmese government and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) broke out Tuesday morning in Nam Lim Pa area near the Kachin/Shan state border, said local church and KIO officials.
The fighting started at about 9 a.m. local time and continued until after noon, said a pastor of Kachin Baptist Church in Bhamo (also known as Manmaw), about 40 miles north of Nam Lim Pa.
The conflict erupted when three columns of Burma Army troops marched into Nam Lim Pa territories controlled by KIO armed-wing Kachin Independence Army (KIA) battalion 12 under the 3rd Brigade, according to a KIO official.
Nam Lim Pa is already home to approximately 700 refugees living in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, according to Doi Pyi Sa, the head of KIO’s IDP and Refugee Relief Committee.
Despite signing a bilateral seven-point peace agreement in May 2013, fighting between the Burmese government and the KIO has escalated in recent months, affecting three separate KIO controlled territories - Putao district, Pangwa and northern Shan state.
The Peace Talk-creation Group, a non-profit peace negotiation team based in Kachin state capital Myitkyina, urges both government and KIO to stop the fighting immediately as ongoing assaults could damage the peace process when talks resume later this month.
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