All frontline KIA troops have been placed on alert in Kachin State and Northern Shan State, in the country’s north. The KIA is waiting to see how the central Burmese government will respond to the KIA warning to withdraw Burmese troops near KIA military bases by tomorrow.
The warning includes withdrawal of the three new Burmese military posts circling the KIA’s Pang Hkawn-based, Battalion 5, in Sinbo, Mohnyin Township.
The unusual warning from the Central Committee of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, was released on May 19 after the Burmese army fired mortar rounds at Battalion 25, based in Dum Bung Krung, near the Taping (Ta Hkaw Hka or Dapein) hydropower plants.
The warning was contained in a letter sent to the Burmese Army’s Northern Regional Commander, Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung. A copy was also sent to Lajawn Ngan Seng, Chief Minister of the government in Kachin State.
The KIA official in Laiza headquarters in eastern Kachin State said the civil war will be broken out if the central government responds the KIA’s warning with military ways.
