Fighting to isolate junta troops in Bhamo township is intensifying as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) pushes to expand the buffer zone around its headquarters in Laiza town, according to residents of the area and the KIA.
The KIA and its allies are focused on two townships in the state’s southern tip: Momauk and Mansi. The former lies northeast of Bhamo and the other is south of Bhamo along the border with Shan State.
“Yesterday, we were able to seize two patrol posts inside Mansi town. We took control of half of the town,” KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy. “Fighting remains intense. The junta is launching air and artillery strikes almost continuously. Residents have fled. There are only a few people left in Mansi [town], where two community wards were totally destroyed by an airstrike,” Colonel Naw Bu said.
Control of Kachin State’s southernmost townships is critical for the KIA’s effort to protect its headquarters, control roads to China and prevent the junta from reinforcing or supplying its bases elsewhere in the state.
Since launching a coordinated attack on junta bases along the road linking the state capital Myitkina and Bhamo in March, the KIA and its allies have captured about 90 junta outposts and bases, including 11 battalion headquarters.
Junta troops driven from bases and outposts near Laiza regrouped in Bhamo, Col Naw Bu said. “Most of the defeated junta troops from across Kachin State are gathering inside Bhamo, preparing to strengthen the town’s security,” he explained.
Fighting will continue until all remaining junta bases in both townships are captured, he said.
The KIA and allies, which include the Kachin State People’s Defense Force and the Arakan Army, intensified their attacks on junta bases in the two townships on May 7.
Momauk is a mountainous township northeast of Bhamo, where the junta’s Military Operations Command 21 is based. The junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 437 and two artillery battalions also have bases in the township.
Mansi Township is south of Bhamo. The headquarters of light infantry battalions 319 and 601 are in Mansi.
More than 10,000 people have fled their homes in the two townships due to fighting and aerial bombing, residents and Kachin media say.
Kachin media reported that a 50-year-old woman was killed and her husband injured when a junta jet bombed Ywar Thit Ywar village at about 8 pm on May 13.
The KIA and allies have seized Dawthponeyan, Lwegel, Hsinbo and Sumprabum towns since launching their coordinated attacks on junta bases and outposts in March along the road the winds near the border with China.
