There is a fierce battle between the military council and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near Namphatkar village in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State. The military council’s persistent artillery shelling hit and seriously wounded four locals, according to locals.
The heavy shell fired by Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)-123 of the military council (Namphatkar) landed on a house in Zeebadan ward and wounded four civilians including a child.
A local from Namphatkar said: “Fighting took place from around 5 pm to 8 pm. Fighting stopped for a while. The heavy shells fired by the military council landed on a civilian house and wounded some family members. Now they have been admitted to Kutkai Hospital.”
At around 5 pm on 18 July, a combined force of nearly 80 soldiers from Division-88 and LIB-123 was present on Kawngra Bum hill in Homon village in the upper Namphatkar. Fighting took place as KIA’s Battalion-9 attacked them, according to locals.
Of the wounded civilians, Daw Kadu Khaung Nan, 48, got wounds to her chest while her 15-year-old son named Maung Naw Par and her 9-year-old grandson named Maung Bayan San Aung, were seriously wounded. They have been admitted to Kutkai Hospital, according to locals.
“Since 5 pm, fighting took place. A combined force of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the People’s Defense Force (PDF) attacked the military column in the forest in Namawan village and the military column on Kawngra Bum. The LIB-123 from Namphatkar fired heavy shells,” a frontline news source from Kutkai said.
Currently, locals are worried as the military columns are active in Namphatkar village, locals said.
It has been around two weeks tension mounted between the military council and the KIA’s Brigade-6, Battalion-9 and Brigade-4, Battalion-8 as the military council is carrying out reinforcements in three places between Kutkai and Namphatkar, according to locals.
Sent by KNG