Two Burmese officers and four soldiers were killed after Kachin Independence Army (KIA), 9th Battalion, ambushed and destroyed two Burmese military trucks near Nampaka, on the Mandalay-Muse trade route with China, on May 29, according to a KIA officer stationed on the frontline.
There were no KIA casualties.
Burmese military convoys travelling from Mandalay-Muse, one of the region’s largest trading routes, face regular attacks by KIA’s 9th Battalion.
The KIA is attempting to stop the Burmese army from reinforcing their positions near Kachin army posts in Kachin and Northern Shan state.
Heavy fighting between government army columns and KIA’s 34th Battalion, 4th Brigade has been ongoing near Kyaukme for the last four days, according to locals.
KIA bans night transportation on Lashio-Muse road
Kachin Independent Army’s (KIA) 9th Battalion will completely ban night transportation of all vehicles travelling between Lashio and Muse, starting on June 1.
The night ban is aimed to block government troops from entering and attacking KIA’s positions in Northern Shan state and Kachin state, according to KIA officers.
Posters, enforcing the ban, have been placed at key locations along the route, on May 27.
The KIA’s Vice Chief of Staff Brig-Gen Gun Maw told the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) radio the ban was not implemented by the central military command. Frontline troops might have enacted the ban for ‘security concerns’.
In the day time, regular transportation is permitted, but military convoys and civilian trucks which carry Burmese soldiers in civilian clothing and carrying military uniforms, or weapons, will be attacked, warned KIA officers.
