Two frontline posts controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) that severed as protection for the group’s Laiza headquarters were seized by Burma government troops after heavy clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ja Ing Yang and Hka U, both posts held by KIA battalion 18 under the group’s 5th Brigade, were attacked and then captured by the Burma Army, according to KIA frontline officers who declined to be quoted by name.
The KIA soldiers withdrew from Hka U post after a column from the Burma Army’s Light Infantry Division No. 99 attacked their post with small arms and artillery on Wednesday morning, said Dumsa Dau Hka, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)’s Technical Advisory Team office based in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state.