Clashes between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmar military junta troops have escalated in Seng Taung, a village near Kachin State’s ruby hub of Hpakant town, after the ethnic armed group seized the village’s police station on Thursday, according to the KIA’s information officer, Colonel Naw Bu.
The KIA, the Kachin People’s Defense Force (KPDF) and joint resistance forces took control of the Seng Taung Police Station on Thursday morning after a 12-hour attack that started on Wednesday night.
Currently, clashes are ongoing as the resistance forces conduct a clearance operation to sweep out police and junta troops who fled the police station on Thursday and have taken shelter in civilian houses in other parts of Seng Taung in an effort to fight back.
Meanwhile, military regime fighter jets conducted a series of bombing runs on the village during the clashes to support junta ground troops after the police station was captured by the revolutionary forces. Three or four aerial bombardments were conducted on Friday morning, Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy.
“Some residents ran away. Some were wounded and some are stuck in the village amid the clashes,” he added.
At the moment, Seng Taung Village is simultaneously being shelled by junta forces from a strategic hill in Hpakant, and bombed by junta fighter jets. Many civilian homes have been damaged.
On Sept. 7, the Lucky Man Hotel and a karaoke parlor, or KTV, in Seng Taung were raided by an estimated 100 military junta troops. After the raid, residents of houses around the hotel and the KTV were driven away and junta troops were stationed at those places. Tension between the two sides escalated rapidly and fighting broke out on the same day.
“While we were conducting the clearance operation in Seng Taung, regime troops poured gasoline on the houses and set them on fire. Many houses burned down on Thursday,” Naw Bu stated.
According to residents, there have been civilian casualties during the fighting since Sept. 7 and bodies were found at the Lucky Man Hotel. Some civilians fled the neighborhood waving white flags, they said.
Local media Kachin Wave News reported last week that seven hotel guests and passersby were killed in the fighting and several others injured.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
“We were allowed to leave our house after the junta forces found out that my mother had been paralyzed. Then, they stationed themselves at our house. Seng Taung residents fled, leaving their houses open,” a resident told The Irrawaddy.
The KIA and KPDF groups have been fighting the regime in the jade mining hub of Hpakant, which is situated 7 km from Seng Taung, and have seized junta positions in two neighborhoods adjacent to Seng Taung. The combined revolutionary forces also seized two junta bases in Hpakant in August.
Since launching an operation in Kachin State in March this year, the KIA and its allies have overrun more than 220 junta positions and seized Momauk, Lwelgel, Sadone, Sumprabum, Sinbo, Injangyan, Myo Hla, Myo Thit and Dawthponeyan towns in Kachin State and Mabein in northern Shan State.
