Villagers fear for their safety after the Burma Army (BA) showed up in their village in Waingmaw Township, which is also near Laiza, the de facto headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation, whose armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), is fighting the regime in Kachin State.

Although the BA soldiers were no longer in the village, an anonymous source explained they were still only a mile away.

“The KIA will shoot if the BA soldiers enter their area, so of course we’re still very worried about our safety,” he told KNG.

On Monday, a column of 200 BA soldiers showed up in Nam Sam Yang at 8am and left for the Lailum Bum (mountain) military camp at 4am. The column was guarding trucks delivering supplies to two camps around San Sam Yang. Eighty military trucks carrying food, military equipment and soldiers drove from Bhamo to Dor Hpong Yang, Hkaya Bum and Nam Sam Yang.

The KIA’s territory starts on the eastern bank of a small river near Nam Sam Yang and if the BA crossed it, they would attack them.

Another anonymous source from the village said that the soldiers from Infantry Battalion-83 and 13, which are based in Dor Hpong Yang, told him that they’d leave as soon as everything had been delivered. Some fear that the BA is preparing an attack on Laiza after the regime has been supplying its camps in the surrounding areas and in the Gan Dawng area in recent weeks.

The residents of Nam Sam Yang fled fighting between BA and KIA in 2011 and only returned to their village in 2019 under a repatriation programme supported by the Aung San Suu Kyi government.