The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied forces captured the junta’s Tank Battalion 5014 in Bhamo town a few days ago but did not report it due to security concerns.
“We captured the tank battalion two or three days ago but didn’t announce it for fear of airstrikes,” a resistance source said.
Videos circulating on social media Monday evening show KIA troops moving about inside and outside Tank Battalion 5014, with some tanks on fire.
Bhamo resident Ko Thurein said junta troops from the battalion withdrew to the nearby 21st Military Operations Command.
Both sides suffered casualties in clashes surrounding the command and other remaining battalions over the past few days, and the regime is now increasingly relying on drone attacks, he added.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu said he had yet to receive confirmation from ground troops of the tank battalion’s capture but confirmed that junta forces have taken up a defensive position in the 21st Military Operations Command.
“Fighting is fiercer there,” he added. “We have to be more careful.”
The KIA and allies launched their assault on Bhamo and neighboring Mansi on Dec. 4, and Mansi fell after a month of fighting.
At the end of January, the KIA also defeated Armored Battalion 7006 in Bhamo, seizing seven armored vehicles.
Sitting on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River, Bhamo is the capital of a vast district stretching into the mountains on both sides of the river, and the second-biggest settlement in Kachin after the state capital Myitkyina.
The KIA’s own headquarters lies about halfway between the two towns in the mountain fastness of Laiza on the Chinese border.
Bhamo town is now completely encircled by resistance fighters, forcing the military to airlift supplies to its troops. Apart from the 21st Military Operations Command, the junta’s Infantry Battalion 47 remains standing.
Thousands of civilians were forced to flee, but seven were injured in fighting in January, according to a volunteer who helped evacuate them to Mandalay.
