Two Burmese army lieutenants were killed with several others suffering injuries in a rare bout of fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) last week in Putao, Kachin, Burma's northernmost state, according to local sources.
The two officers were killed in a conflict that last Wednesday between Mali Hka and Chyai Hka rivers in Machyangbaw Township, say the sources that are members of a local church.
According to KIA officials in the Laiza headquarters, the clashes began after Burma army soldiers and members of a local militia twice attacked a KIA post held by Battalion 7 near the new Nhka Ga village. The officials claim Burma army soldiers from Machyangbaw-based Infantry Battalion 137 joined forces with a group known as the Rebellion Resistance Force, led by Tanggu Dang.
Tanggu Dang is a pro-government militia leader and businessman. He’s also a Putao native and from the Rawang kinship of the Kachin ethnicity. Tanggu Dang faced criticism when he sent over 200 troops to reinforce the Burma Army during the Saffron Revolution crackdown back in August, 2007.
Burmese tycoon Tay Za - son-in-law of former military strongman Than Shwe - has allegedly been granted 100,000 acres of logging field in the Putao district by the government.
Unknown numbers of villagers in and around the battle zone have fled to surrounding areas for their safety, say the church sources.
Kachin News Group has received information that the government is sending additional troops to the site of the conflict.
Additional skirmishes have been reported between government forces and KIA in the northeastern townships of Chipwi and Sawlaw in Kachin state after a combined force of the government Light Infantry Battalion 521, a local militia and the Border Guard Force (BGF) attacked a KIA battalion 10 post in Law Hkawng on August 17, said Bawm Lang, a pro-government militia officer in Pangwa.
Sumlut Gam, leader of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)’s peace talk delegation, criticized the government's continuous attacks on the KIO armed-wing KIA bases in the two regions in Kachin state, as well as KIA 4th brigade in northern Shan state.
The KIO is keeping its troops under control in accordance with the Myitkyina seven-point agreement reached in May, Samlut Gam said. The government forces breached the agreement by attacking KIA bases, according to the Kachin leader.
