A total of 151 military personnel, including 118 soldiers, were taken as prisoners of war, according to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) following its attacks on Myanmar Navy vessels on the Irrawaddy River on Sept. 2.
A source in the KIA told DVB on the condition of anonymity that 33 of the prisoners are military family members, including 17 women, eight adults, and eight children. The youngest child is four-months-old.
The source added that the KIA is interrogating the prisoners of war at a “secure” location, adding that all are being treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
Six of the 14-vessel Myanmar Navy convoy, which left Mandalay on Aug. 21, reached Kachin State’s Bhamo Township on Sept. 3, according to the KIA.
The KIA claimed that it damaged or destroyed seven naval vessels between Bhamo and Shwegu Township, located 64 miles (103 km) west of Bhamo, on Sept. 2. One vessel ran aground at Yeni village before reaching Bhamo on Sept. 3.
While fighting intensifies in Bhamo, the regime’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) reportedly invited the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) to “unconditional peace talks” in Naypyidaw on Sept. 4.
The KIA reportedly declined the invitation, adding that it prefers to hold talks with the regime in a foreign country.
The KIA launched its statewide offensive on March 7, 2024, which has led to the seizure of northern Shan State’s Mabein Township, as well as Kachin’s Sumprabum, Injangyang, and the lucrative rare earth mining towns of Chipwi, Pangwa and Tsawlaw.
The KIO is a founding member of the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF)—Myanmar’s premier resistance coalition—alongside the National Unity Government (NUG), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), along with fellow ethnic armed groups the Karen National Union (KNU), the Chin National Front (CNF), and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).
