On Wednesday, about 50 military trucks carrying troops, rations, weapons and ammunition arrived in Manwin in the Manmaw (Bhamo) district of southeastern Kachin State, locals in Manwin told the Kachin News Group.

Till late that night, the reinforcements were still in in Manwin. Their division commander is based in Nam Hkam, next to Manwin in Northern Shan State, said locals.

Government troops also traveled from Mandalay to Mannaw by ferry, eyewitness said. Their battalions could not be identified.

At least 300 of them disembarked and went to  N’Mawk (Momauk) Town in northeastern Manmaw using seven large trucks and three small ones, starting at about 3 p.m. local time, said locals.

Part of the Manmaw-Kai Htik-Nam Hkam Road, connects Kachin State and Shan State, is controlled by the KIA.

Four days before elements of the LID No. 99 were sent to Kachin State, Aung Min, the Burmese government Minister of Railways, met Lt-Gen N’ban La Awng, the Vice-President of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA. The meeting took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand on November 19. Aung Min offered an olive branch, in terms of a new ceasefire, to the KIO.

The majority Burman-led government has already deployed troops from over 120 battalions in its military offensive against the KIA in Kachin State, La Nan, General Secretary of KIO, recently informed the Kachin News Group.