The junta’s military is pounding the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near the border with China after losing 10 outposts and two bases to the KIA yesterday and today, but some bombs are hitting China, residents of Lazia say.
The KIA’s headquarters is in Lazia.
The junta escalated its shelling of residential areas of the town on Friday morning after fighting between its troops intensified in the area on Thursday morning, a Kachin activist who lives in Laiza said. Airstrikes continued Friday, she said.
“The junta’s military is targeting civilians, so most residents are getting ready to flee the town today,” she added.
Another resident of the town said, “They are continuing to hit Lazia with airstrikes and artillery shells and at least three bombs hit [territory in] China.”
A video recorded by a resident of the Chinese side of the border and shared online shows a column of smoke rising on the Chinese side of the border. The video says the smoke is from a Myanmar military airstrike.
Jet fighter jets have been flying above Laiza since early morning today, residents say.
The Arakan Army also said its troops are fighting side by side with KIA troops near Lazia. In a statement released yesterday evening, it said its troops had joined the KIA and its allies in Thursday’s attacks on junta outposts near Lazia. It has joined attacks against junta units in Kachin State’s Momauk township, the statement said.
On Thursday, the KIA and allies launched simultaneous attacks on about a dozen junta military outposts near Laiza, seizing at least 10 that day.
The outposts are located along a 120-mile road that swerves near the border with China and connects Bhamo town with the state capital, Myitkyina. Lazia is about midway between them. The road cuts through three townships: Bhamo, Momauk and Waingmaw.
The KIA and its allies also captured the base of Infantry Battalion 142 in Dawthponeyan town at about 11 a.m. today, residents of the town near Lazia said.
They said KIA troops and their allies captured the battalion base and that all its troops surrendered. The junta troops waved white flags after they were attacked, the residents said.
Kachin media outlets also reported that Infantry Battalion 142’s base was captured by the KIA and allies.
The KIA has not confirmed the capture of the base or said how many junta troops surrendered.
Residents nearby say more than 100 junta troops are usually stationed at the base in the Dawthponeyan town, which is on the Myitkyina-Bhamo road.
The KIA also seized a mountaintop base near Laiza after defeating junta troops at 10 camps defending it, KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy on Thursday evening.
Junta shelling has reportedly killed three civilians in Lazia and a nearby camp for internally displaced persons since Thursday. A 30-year-old woman and her 10-year-old son were killed by shells that exploded in a residential ward of Laiza yesterday morning. One life was also lost when a junta artillery shell exploded near Mong Lia Khet camp for internally displaced persons.
Civilians have been targeted by the junta’s military since fighting erupted between the junta’s military and the KIA near Laiza last June.