Combined forces of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Kachin People’s Defense Force have clashed with junta troops in Hpakant town, Kachin State since Saturday.
“We have clashed with around 100 junta troops from the junta’s hilltop tactical command in Hpakant for three days,” KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy on Monday.
Clashes broke out after a junta column raided the Lucky Man Hotel in Seng Taung ward on Saturday and arrested staff and guests.
KIA troops encircled the junta troops in Seng Taung. The junta’s hilltop base in downtown Hpakant provided artillery support, wounding civilians and damaging buildings.
Local media reported civilian casualties in the fighting, while other civilians fled the neighborhood waving white flags.
Local media KachinWaves News reported that seven hotel guests and passers-by were killed in the fighting and several others injured.
Yup Zaw, a leader of Kachin Peace-Talk Creating Group, was shot in the thigh on Sunday.
The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the civilian casualties as communications are down and the KIA spokesman could not confirm them either.
The KIA and KPDF have been fighting the regime in the jade mining hub and have seized junta positions in two neighborhoods adjacent to Seng Taung. In August they also seized two junta bases in Hpakant.
Fighting continues between Bhamo and Momauk as the regime attempts to retake Light Infantry Battalion 437 seized by the KIA in August, Naw Bu said.
