The military carried out a drone strike on Laiza, a Myanmar-China border town known as the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in Kachin State on Friday. Laiza is located 71 miles (114 km) south of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina.
Laiza residents told DVB that two attacks happened after news spread on social media that the KIA seized an Armored Battalion in Bhamo, located 59 miles (94 km) south of the KIA headquarters in Laiza.
“One of the bombs landed over the Myitkyina Hotel in the town. Luckily nobody was injured but some parts of the building was damaged,” another Laiza resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
The KIA and its allied resistance forces launched an offensive to take the southern Kachin city of Bhamo on Dec. 4. The Kachin News Group (KNG) reported that the KIA seized an Armored Battalion, including four armored vehicles and a captain, in Bhamo on Jan. 24.
A source close to the KIA told KNG that fighting with the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 47 and the No. 12 Operation Command Headquarters is ongoing in southern Kachin State.
“KIA forces circled those two [military outposts] and cut off all resources like food and water,” a source close to the KIA told KNG.
The KIA seized control of Mansi, 71 miles (114 km) south of Laiza and 133 miles (214 km) south of Myitkyina, on Jan. 8. It launched its statewide offensive against the regime on March 7.
