A mining official from Naypyitaw was accidentally injured in a bomb blast over a month ago from a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) planted explosive in the rebel’s restricted area near the gold mines in Burma’s Kachin State, said local sources.
The Burmese mining official belongs to the Burmese Ministry of Mines. He was injured on November 8 when he entered the KIA’s area for mapping for extending gold mining fields in Nam San Yang on the Myitkyina-Bhamo route near the KIA’s headquarters Laiza in Waingmaw Township. The explosion destroyed a bamboo grove and trees and the official was lucky to get off lightly, said local villagers.
Nam San Yang gold mining field on Myitkyina-Bhamo route in Kachin State, northern Burma.
The Naypyitaw mining official is yet to be identified but he was accompanied by other colleagues from the Ministry of Mines, Waingmaw Township Administrators, the Township policemen and the Township Land-Survey officers, said sources close to the group.
According to villagers of Nam San Yang, the Burmese mining official was injured in the bomb explosion because he ignored warnings by Nam San Yang villagers and KIA’s officials--- not to enter the KIA’s restricted areas.
Gold mining is mainly being undertaken in paddy fields and crop plantations owned by local people along the Nam San Hka (Nam San Stream) near Nam San Yang village. Most gold mining companies are associated with Burmese Army officials including relatives of Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein, said the gold mine’s sources.
Significantly, the extending of gold mines in the areas close to the KIA’s Laiza by Burmese mining and military officials have been stopped after the Naypyitaw mining official was injured by the KIA’s bomb, according to the villagers of Nam San Yang.
The KIA planted a plethora of mines as a precaution and self-defence around its headquarters in Laiza after the junta officially pressurized the KIA to transform to the Border Guard Force (BGF) under its control as of April, said KIA’s sources.
However, there is no fresh military tension between the KIA and the junta after the mining official was injured, said local sources.
The KIA and its political wing the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) is the only ethnic Kachin outfit which has rejected the ruling junta-proposed BGF.
