Fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army (BA) has intensified in Muse District after the junta attacked the KIA’s camp in Mongpaw in northern Shan State.
Last week, Battalion 36 of KIA Brigade 6 fought for 12 hours with BA Light Infantry Battalion 332 (Military Operations Command 17) on Kartai Mountain.
A local source told KNG that he had heard that the regime had fired on the Kachin soldiers near Hpun Pyan Yang village and paid a guide to show them the way. He said that after many BA soldiers, including a commander, died and others were wounded, the regime sent reinforcements and launched artillery attacks from its bases in Mong Yu and Mong Hpan.
“We fear that the KIA will attack the artillery unit of BA in a village,” another person told KNG.
According to a news source, there were casualties on both sides in the fighting.
The day before, KIA attacked BA near Nawng Cho in the evening and fought twice in Hpun Pyan Yang in the early afternoon.
Local sources affiliated with Brigade 6 believe that fighting will continue in Muse District.
Regime-allied Mongpaw People’s Milita Force and the KIA-allied Northern Alliance members, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, also maintain forces in the district, with the latter groups also fighting BA troops in other locations. The Shan State Progress Party also keeps troops in the area.
