Forces belonging to the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) Brigade 6 continued fighting at the base of Nawng Cho mountain in Kutkai Township on Tuesday.
The clashes occurred near Dan village, the headquarters of the KIA’s Battalion No. 9 under Brigade 6. According to a KIA officer, around 200 Tatmadaw troops launched the attack.
“Clashes started at 9:00 a.m. then stopped at around 10:00 a.m. Then they shot at us again. Now it’s the third time with clashes happening in the same place,” a KIA officer from Brigade 6—who spoke to KNG on the condition of anonymity—said.
KNG was unable to confirm any reports of casualties at the time of reporting.
On Monday the Tatmadaw’s Infantry Battalion 45 and Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 fought with the KIA’s Brigade 4 around four times near Na Hkyem and Ka Leng villages, where Lashio meets Kutkai. Witnesses say that the clashes appear to be a military offensive against the KIA’s camps in northern Shan State.
KNG reported that the Meiktila-based LID 99 is a division of the Tatmadaw’s “shock troops” who have been implicated in war crimes in Shan State and the genocide of the Rohingya in Rakhine State.
The fighting on Monday and Tuesday is occurring despite the declaration of a four-month unilateral ceasefire by the Burma Army in the region in December 2018, lasting through April.