Troops from the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) 36th Battalion engaged in a gunfire fight in the Mungbaw area of Muse Township in northern Shan State on Friday morning.

According to KIA sources, Burma Army troops entered a road junction near Mungbaw village, where the KIA’s troops are stationed. The two forces then began fighting.

“We launched defensive attacks because the Burma Army’s troops came onto the Mungli-Maw Tawng junction, where our Battalion 36 troops were staying,” a KIA officer told KNG on the condition of anonymity.

Locals said that Burma Army troops have also occupied the area controlled by the KIA’s Brigade 6, in Mong Ko, Muse District, last week.

Representatives from the government, Tatmadaw, and Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—which includes the KIA—have engaged in multiple rounds of peace talks regarding a potential bilateral ceasefire. At the same time, the Burma Army and the KIA have been clashing in both Kachin and northern Shan State in recent months.