A Burmese military tank is temporarily stop on Mandalay-Lashio road on April 25, 2019

Fighting happened in advance of an upcoming peace meeting between the government and KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization.

Clashes broke out between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar Army in Namtu township this morning, according to eyewitnesses. Fighting between a column of Myanmar Army's LID 99 and KIA Battalion 8, under brigade-4, happened for over an hour, said locals.

“The Myanmar Army's LID 99 was on route to a military training school in KIA battalion 8 controlled territories near Namtu river when clashes occurred at the areas between Dun Kyeng and Tung Hkam near Na Hkyem village from 7:00 am to 8:30 am,” an anonymous KIA officer told the KNG.

The fighting happened in advance of a April 30 meeting to discuss a bi-lateral ceasefire between officials from the Union government's National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Muse, near the China border.

Since April 18, Myanmar Army military columns attacked KIA camps in northern Shan state. The Tatmadaw seized Howa Bum, headquarters of KIA's battalion 36 located in Muse district, in northern Shan State, on April 22.

The KIA has fought with the Myanmar Army since the latter broke a seventeen-year ceasefire in June of 2011, the same time the previous Thein Sein administration unrolled a series of extensive reforms.