Myanmar military ‘suffers heavy casualties’ in bid to recapture hill base from KIA

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has held onto a strategically important hill base that it captured last month near the Chinese border despite intense attacks by the junta in recent days aimed at reclaiming it.  

The Tatmadaw deployed hundreds of ground troops and at least two fighter jets as part of its attack on the Alaw Bum hill station, which sits roughly 30km south of KIA headquarters in Laiza.

But the KIA has so far held its ground, with the junta’s forces reported to have suffered heavy losses, including a commanding officer of an infantry battalion.

“Everything is under the KIA’s control,” said Colonel Naw Bu, the KIA’s spokesperson. “Their armed forces are still far from the Alaw Bum base… I don’t know whether they will retreat.”

The base is near a road in Kachin State that connects Laiza to the border town of Mai Ja Yang, a KIA stronghold where many internally displaced people (IDPs) live.

The Tatmadaw was able to use the hill station, which it had held since 1987, as a strategic location from which to launch artillery attacks on KIA bases and IDP camps, a KIA officer told the Network Media Group last month.

The KIA captured Alaw Bum on March 25, one of its numerous attacks against the new junta, which seized power in a February 1 coup and has since murdered more than 700 people across the country. 

The Tatmadaw began trying to recapture the base on Sunday, with fierce clashes reported in the nearby area of Dawphoneyan. It also launched multiple airstrikes using fighter jets after its ground troops suffered casualties. 

The next day Tatmadaw helicopters brought another 600 troops to the town of Bhamo, which is about 60km south of Dawphoneyan, a local resident said.  

As the junta carried out more offensives on Monday, the KIA raided a police outpost and a military outpost where soldiers were building a communications tower, The Irrawaddy reported. 

The outposts are near the village of Myothit, which lies about halfway between Bhamo and Dawphoneyan. Three villagers in the area were later killed by Tatmadaw artillery fire, the news outlet said. 

The KIA’s seizure of the outposts enabled it to block the advance of additional Tatmadaw troops on the Alaw Bum base. “Two routes have been closed off by the KIA. That’s why [the Tatmadaw] launched airstrikes,” the local said.

Also on Monday, the commanding officer of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 387 was killed and his body was taken away by a Tatmadaw helicopter, a KIA officer said. 

Colonel Naw Bu said on Tuesday that the Tatmadaw was continuing its ground offensives. “There was ground fighting this morning, but no airstrikes so far today,” he said.  

“The situation will depend on the military council’s troops. If they continue fighting, it will definitely intensify,” he added.

Since the coup, the KIA has attacked military bases and police outposts in Hpakant, Mokaung, Injanyang, Waingmaw, and Momauk.