KACHIN STATE-Fighting between the Kachin Independence Army KIA and the military junta troops has been going on for two days in a row near Tadar Nyi Naung Village in Hpakant.
A female Internally Displaced Person (IDP) from Saifra village said that the battle between the junta’s 88th battalion that came down from Hpakant Township and the KIA and Kachin People’s Defense Force (KPDF) joint forces has been going on since May 14.
“I don’t know what the fighting situation is like. The columns did not deploy. Fighting seems to happen only at where the battle took place, all night yesterday (May 14) and currently this morning (May 15). They are at same place. The sound is just like that,” she said.
An IDP man who said that the sound of small arms fire and big weapons was heard and that the local residents of the nearby village were fleeing to nearby churches.
“They are still shooting and fighting. The situation is that there are no people on the road. There is no one in the village,” he said.
Due to the fighting, the road was closed along Hpakant – Nanya Road, and more than 700 families had fled from Tadar Nyi Naung Village, Saifra Village, Khun Sayan Village, Go Luyang Village and Kag Maw Zu Village.