In only two days, nine strongholds of the Myanmar junta have reportedly been taken over by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its supporters in the Waingmaw and Momauk townships in Kachin State.

The Kachin People's Defense Force (PDF), the Arakan Army, the KIA, and other organizations are said to have taken control of a sizable camp on Thursday close to the Nahpaw and Pajau Bum villages in Waingmaw Township, which is home to the KIA headquarters.

Under military ruler Ne Win, the KIA was headquartered in Nahpaw; however, its political component, the Kachin Independence Organization, claims that the organization moved to Laiza in May 1987. The KIA said that five further positions between Pajau Bum hamlet and Laiza town had also collapsed. On Thursday, Momauk Township was home to the headquarters of the 438 Light Infantry Battalion in Numlang village and the 616 Artillery Battalion base in Nawng Kawn village. A PDF member stated, "We attacked the battalion bases on Thursday morning and seized them both in the evening."

Based on the vital Myitkyina-Bhamo route, Battalion 438's artillery camp had the capability to bombard the KIA headquarters located in Laiza. The military camps in Myanmar that surrounding the KIA headquarters for more than 20 years have finally all collapsed.

The 370 Artillery Battalion collapsed on Saturday morning.Infantry Battalion 237 headquarters at Dasai village in Momauk Township was seized on March 15 by the KIA and its allies, while Infantry Battalion 142 headquarters was taken on March 8 in Dawthponeyan town.In the previous sixteen days, the KIA and its allies claim to have taken control of about fifty junta outposts, including battalion headquarters located in the townships of Tanai, Hpakant, Sumprabum, Waingmaw, and Momauk.

The unit base at Numlang served as a supply center from which reinforcements were sent to the Laiza area, according to the KIA.The base of Military Operations Command 21 in Bhamo, the district seat in southern Kachin State, may be the next target of the KIA.While the junta suffered multiple casualties and hundreds of regime forces surrendered, the KIA said that six of its fighters were killed and ten seriously injured.

BOB Post