The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies have finally defeated junta troops barricaded inside a hotel in Singtawn in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township, taking control of the village where fighting had raged for a month.
The KIA and allies that include the People’s Defense Force (PDF) under the National Unity Government launched attacks on Singtawn on Sept. 7, and fighting for control of the rugged jade-mining hub escalated in late September.
“On the evening on Oct. 7, we launched the final intensive attack on the junta’s military column inside the Lucky Man Hotel. We were able to raid the hotel and defeat and arrest the remaining troops in the early morning of Oct. 8,” said a KIA source on the frontline.
The junta column consisting of over 50 troops had retreated to areas between Hpakant and Singtawn and made the hotel their base last month.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu earlier warned that fighting could intensify “in the coming days”.
While the KIA and allies were surrounding the hotel, other junta bases in Hpakant continuously fired artillery shells into Singtawn and other outskirts of the town over recent weeks. The junta also sent fighter jets to drop bombs.
On Monday morning, an artillery shell fired from a strategic junta hilltop post in Hpakant landed in front of a teashop in Aye Mya Thar Yar ward, killing a woman, according to locals.
After intense fighting, the KIA stormed the hotel on Tuesday morning, arresting over 20 junta troops alive and taking control of Singtawn, which lies just 5 km south of Hpakant Town.
Singtawn is a large village with a population of over 100,000 and a major jade trading hub that once bustled with jade merchants and miners. It also lies in a crucial strategic position, since regime troops from bases further south must pass through village to reach Hpakant Town.
Junta strikes in response to the KIA’s attacks included a bombing raid on Singtawn wards by fighter jets. Regime forces destroyed over 200 houses there over the month since the fighting broke out, according to the KIA sources.
Thousands of residents have fled to nearby villages and towns since last month, but the KIA blocked all routes between townships to regime forces, Col. Na Bu said.
The KIA and PDF are coordinating attacks on junta forces in Kachin State and along the border between Kachin State and Sagaing Region. As part of their operations, they also recaptured Pinlebu Township in the northernmost part of Sagaing bordering Kachin State on Tuesday.
