KIA attacks junta army column in Tanai, Kachin State

An official from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said that the group attacked a column of Myanmar army soldiers in Tanai in Kachin State on Wednesday morning as they tried to advance towards the Kachin forces’ position. 

Colonel Naw Bu, the KIA’s information officer, confirmed that the KIA planted landmines to stop the junta troops who were marching northwest from Ta Ron village in Tanai Township to Shin Bway Yang (Shingbwiyang) town at around 6:30am.

“It was a defensive fight because the junta’s army was moving towards the KIA troops,” he said, adding that the number of casualties was not known as further information from the ground had not been made available. 

A local man from Ta Hket village, around one mile from the scene of the attack, told Myanmar Now that residents could hear multiple weapons being fired.  

“Along with the sound of landmines exploding, we heard six artillery shots, and the sound of small arms was constant,” he said. 

Around 100 junta soldiers have been stationed in the 500-household Ta Ron—located more than 40 miles northwest of Tanai—since early September, according to the KIA’s Col Naw Bu, who added that the troops have been occupying a monastery and school in the village. 

According to a report from the Kachin State-based Kachin News Group, the junta’s army summoned religious leaders and elders from Ta Ron on September 11 and informed them that they must prevent the KIA and the local People’s Defence Force (PDF) from attacking them. If they were attacked, they threatened to set fire to the village. 

“It is not acceptable that they would advance but tell the KIA not to attack,” Col Naw Bu said. 

In August, the KIA 2nd Brigade’s 45th Battalion attacked and set fire to a junta’s base near a bridge in Ta Ron. The local man who spoke to Myanmar Now speculated that the military’s advance on Wednesday might have been part of an attempt to regain control of the area. 

He said that almost all the men in Ta Ron and Ta Hket fled the villages due to the high military tension in the area, but Myanmar Now could not independently verify the numbers of people who had left. 

Since the shadow National Unity Government announced on September 7 that a full-scale resistance war against the junta had begun, fighting has broken out near Ta Ron, Ta Hket and La Ja Bum villages in Tanai. 

The KIA has repeatedly stated its opposition to the February 1 military coup and subsequent junta rule.  

The spokesperson for the military council could not be reached on Wednesday for comment.