A Burmese Army deputy battalion commander and three troops were killed today during morning fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Manje Township, in Manmaw District, in Kachin State, northern Burma, KIA officials said.
The Burmese soldiers were from the Mong Mit-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 348 and they were killed during fighting at Kha Chin Village, near Mabein, by KIA soldiers from Battalion 12, led by Major Zau Gam, which is based in Manje (Mansi) Township, southern Manmaw (Bhamo) District, according to KIA officials at its Laiza headquarters.
The KIA also captured three guns carried by dead soldiers, KIA officials said.
Fighting has happened in areas in Kachin State close to the Shan State border since July 16, a Manje resident said.
A KIA soldier was killed yesterday by Burmese troops led by the dead-deputy commander, after the KIA fighter was captured with his gun, according to KIA Battalion 12.
The fighting continued in the afternoon after the deputy battalion commander and three soldiers were killed in the morning, said local people.
The fighting has gradually increased in three townships in Kachin State, Waingmaw, N’mawk and Manje, after a public meeting July 12-13 at Laiza, in which Kachin delegates rejected a renewed ceasefire without political negotiations with all ethnic armed groups in the country.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed wing, the KIA, began two days of important meetings in Laiza on July 18.
