KIA says more clashes likely despite junta’s ceasefire announcement 

Clashes are likely to continue in Kachin state even after the junta unilaterally announced a ceasefire on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has said.

The coup regime claimed it would cease all military operations from Thursday in order to hold negotiations with ethnic armed groups, but KIA information officer General Naw Bu said the Myanmar military had not stopped its activities in Kachin.    

“Regardless of their announcement, we have seen them continue their operations as usual,” he told Myanmar Now. “That is also usually the case in northern Shan state even after an announcement of a ceasefire.”

The KIA has launched numerous offensives against the military in Kachin state since February. Last week the group seized a military base near the Chinese border. The military has countered with artillery fire and air attacks. 

At least 20 Tatmadaw soldiers were killed and four military trucks damaged in a KIA ambush on Wednesday in the southern township of Mohnyin, several news outlets reported.

Naw Bu said he was unable to confirm the attack as he had not received any news from KIA soldiers in the area. 

“We saw the news on social media but there’s no on-the-ground confirmation yet, since there’s difficulty communicating with the phone lines being down,” he said. “As we use phone lines from China to communicate, it’s a bit difficult.” 

On the same day as the Mohnyin attack, the KIA’s Brigade 5 overran a police station on the western bank of the Ayeyarwady river in Kachin’s Shwe Gu township.

Since February there have been about 15 clashes between the military and the KIA in northern Shan state, Mohnyin, Moekaung, Hpakant, Waingmaw, Dawthponeyan, and Sadon.