Junta flees Kachin state
Last Updated on December 29, 2024 6:16 am
Myanmar’s armed rebel groups are liberating one area after another from the junta. This time, another state has been lost to the ruling party. A commander of a junta battalion has fled from the town of Mansi in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state.
The junta’s 319 and 601 infantry battalions and 523 artillery battalion are currently stationed in the city. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) reported this information to the country’s media outlet Irrawaddy.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu said that the commander of the 319 infantry battalion has fled. We are still fighting in the city.
He said that the junta is continuously carrying out air and drone attacks and shelling to protect Mansi. It is reported that artillery guns are being transported from Mansi to the junta’s power hub, Bhamo.
Earlier on December 4, the KIA and its allies launched simultaneous attacks on Mansi and Bhamo, displacing civilians. Civilians trapped in Bhamo were killed by junta shelling.
Videos circulating on social media showed the KIA and its allies at Bhamo Technological University, which was previously occupied by junta troops, and other outposts around Bhamo.
The KIA has not yet fully reached Bhamo, a district-level town that houses the 88th Infantry Division, several infantry battalion headquarters, and combat support units.
The Irrawaddy reported that the KIA and its allies had surrounded the operations command and were attacking other junta headquarters in the town, citing a scout team in Banmaw town. It is estimated that about 10,000 civilians remain in Bhamo, and casualties have been reported.
Thousands of Bhamo and Mansi civilians have fled their homes this month, some of whom have reached the Mandalay region.
Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021, overthrowing the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The country has been in turmoil ever since. Protests erupted across the country in response to the coup. Thousands of people were killed in the protests, which escalated into armed conflict. Rebel groups from various states then joined the armed conflict.