Burmese Army troops raided the Namti Sugar Mill in Burma's northern Kachin State and detained three security personnel on October 8 at 6:30 p.m. local time, said mill sources. The sugar mill is operated by Buga Company under the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) which signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma's ruling junta in 1994.
The sugar mill in Namti city on Myitkyina-Mandalay railway was surrounded by over 40 Burmese soldiers from Mogaung-based No. 3 Military Operation Command Headquarters (MOC-3 or Sa Ka Kha-3) led by Brig-Gen Myint Hein, KIO sources said.
During the crackdown, the Burmese Army detained three security personnel of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) with two shot guns which are authorized by the junta to be used in the sugar mill, KIO officials added.
Ten days after the raid, the three KIA captives were released and two shot guns were returned to the KIO. But before that the three KIA security personnel were interrogated and tortured by Burmese soldiers in MOC No. 3 headquarters in Mogaung and were then sent to Northern Command (Ma Pa Ka) headquarters in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, said a KIA officer.
At the same time, a KIO/A liaison office in Tapataung village near Sinbo city on the Irrawaddy River (Mali Hka) under the KIA's Battalion No. 11 controlled area was also raided by Burmese soldiers from the Sinbo-based Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 141, a KIA officer in Battalion No. 11 told KNG today.
During the raid by the Burmese soldiers on the KIO/A's Tapataung liaison office where about 10 KIO/A personnel lived, there was no big problem, added the KIA officer from Battalion No. 11.
According to KIA sources, the two consecutive crackdowns by the Burmese Army came as a response to rumors of fresh recruitment of KIA soldiers around Namti areas.
Regarding the fresh recruitment, Dr. Lahkyen La Ja, general secretary of KIO/A told KNG last week that "the current military recruitment for KIA is regular winter season activity".
The KIO/A has been demanding autonomy for Kachin State and for a genuine federal union of Burma from Burma's ruling junta during the 14 year long National Convention (NC) on a new Burmese constitution which ended on September 3, 2007. However the junta neglected the demand, said KIO/A leaders.
The KIO/A gad been armed insurgency against successive Burmese governments for an independent state from 1961 but its policy later changed to autonomy for Kachin State.
