The Burmese government on Thursday denied accusations it had used chemical weapons against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Our military never uses chemical weapons and we have no intention to use them at all. I think the KIA is accusing us wrongly,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut is reported as saying.
A spokesman for the Kachin rebels on Wednesday told AFP that the Burmese army had stepped up its operations in recent days in a push towards the KIA headquarters of Laiza.
“It is already three days [they have] used chemical weapons [and] they are able to occupy very important posts,” KIA spokesman James Lum Dau is reported as saying.
AFP said it was unable to verify the claims, which follow the recent use of air strikes by the government forces against the KIO.
