Three Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers were unconscious for half of a day on Thursday after being attacked by Burmese Army troops with chemical weapons, said eyewitnesses.
The KIA soldiers were unconscious from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Burma Standard Time after they were attacked with an unidentified poison gas by government troops, said KIA officers.
Heavy fighting between the two sides on the KIA frontline post near Hpawmi Sa Ra occurred from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in N’Mawk (Momauk) Township in Manmaw (Bhamo) District in Kachin State, reported local people.
Villagers in the KIA-controlled area of Law Dan in the fighting zone said over 50 Burmese soldiers were killed and many were injured during the clashes with the KIA. The Burmese soldiers attacked the KIA with chemical weapons.
There were no casualties among KIA soldiers. The unconscious KIA soldiers were brought from the frontline after the fighting ended, said a KIA officer who requested anonymity.
The KIA post fell to the Burmese Army after soldiers attacked it and their positions with heavy artillery, said villagers of Law Dan.
According to KIA soldiers on the frontline, red and white-colored smoke billowed after mortar shells loaded with poison gas exploded.
Similarly, Burmese troops attacked troops from KIA’s Battalion 15 with chemical weapons in Hpakawn in Sang Gang near the Taping (Dapein) Dam, where the government initiated a new war with the KIA on June 9, said KIA frontline sources.
Many KIA soldiers on the frontline have become unconsciousness and suffered from continuous vomiting and extreme weakness following attacks by Burmese troops with poison gas, added KIA frontline sources.
KIA leaders at the Laiza headquarters said Burmese soldiers have resorted to using chemical weapons because their ground troops are unable to overrun KIA’s strong defense.
