Kachin Army attacks army base in Shaduzut village in response to air attacks
"They attacked the army base around 6 am and fighting ceased after 9:30 am," said a villager. "One solider was killed in action and one injured. Wives of the soldiers also fought them. The KIA also had casualties. Some mortar rounds hit our village though no one was injured. Nothing was heard in the evening."
Kachin State’s security and border affairs minister Colonel Thura Myo Tin confirmed the attack but would confirm nothing further.
The skirmish was confirmed by KIA Brig-General Zaw Taung. "It is true that the fighting occurred at Shaduzut. I don’t know about it in details."
The KIA was retaliating after two of their regiments under the No. 2 Division had suffered ongoing air attacks by government forces, he said.
Regiments No. 14 and 20 "had been under attack by jet fighters for a long time," said Zaw Taung, "so the KIA’s regiments came out to attack the army base instead of staying in their bases.
"KIA’s Lwanchaungbwe base in Munwaingyi near the borders of Shan and Kachin states have been under aerial attack. On December 30, mortar rounds hit outposts of the KIA’s front line in Laiza."
He said confirmation of further information would have to come from KIA’s central committee.
Colonel Naw Bu, KIA spokesperson ,said on December 29 that the army attacked two regiments under the No. 2 Division using jet fighters.
He said the army is intensifying the fighting as they want to hurt the economy of the KIA, add to territories or protect Chinese businesses.
There have been reports of government jet fighters attacking border areas of Kachin and Shan states and the Tanin area a few days ago.
Colonel Thura Myo Tin told RFA recently that the fighting is not related to the upcoming peace conference. The army is fighting with the KIA to protect the country in line with the constitution, he insisted.
Skirmishes between the army and KIA have been ongoing for seven months now, with illegal gold mines in the Tanin area seen as the issue under dispute. Civilians have been wounded, killed and arrested in the fighting.
