The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) says it seized two major bases in the prized jade-mining hub of Hpakant Township in Kachin State on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the KIA and its allies attacked the La Maung Kone and Taw Maw bases.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy: “La Maw Kone and Taw Maw were key junta hilltop bases for Hpakant held by the 33rd Light Infantry Division.”
The regime responded with shelling and airstrikes.
La Maw Kone is 8km from Hpakant town on the township’s highest hill with hundreds of troops. It reportedly supplied numerous smaller outposts. Taw Maw is around 16km from Hpakant.
The regime still controls around five major bases in the town, Col Naw Bu added.
The KIA and its allies have been attacking junta targets along the Bhamo-Myikyina highway since March 7.
The colonel said more than 210 regime positions have since fallen.
The Light Infantry Battalion 437 headquarters in the important town of Momauk on the road to Mandalay is also under attack.
Momauk is crucial to both sides as it commands the junction to Lwegel on the Chinese border, Mandalay and Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital. The route to the KIA headquarters in Laiza from Mandalay and Bhamo also passes through Momauk.
“We have been attacking Momauk for three months but I cannot report on the progress as the mobile networks are down,” Col Naw Bu said.
The junta has responded to attacks on Hpakant and Momauk with airstrikes using fighter jets and Y-12 transport planes on the towns and nearby villages.
A KIA source told The Irrawaddy that the armed group has surrounded the mile-wide Battalion 437’s headquarters in Momauk. He said the western half of the base, where the heavy weapons were based, had fallen.
The other half contains the troops’ families, the source added.
“Junta troops still control the housing and Fire Service Department building but the western half is under KIA control,” he added.
The KIA and its allies say they have seized Sumprabum in Putao Township and N Jang Yang in Myitkyina Township, Lwegel in Momauk Township and Mabein in Mongmit Township in neighboring northern Shan State.
