The attack was the second in less than a week on a military convoy in northern Shan State’s Muse District.
Forces from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) ambushed a Burma Army convoy in northern Shan State’s Muse District late Friday night, just days after a similar attack in the same area left three Burmese soldiers dead and 16 wounded.
The attack occurred as a military column from the Burma Army’s Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 was returning to its battalion headquarters from Mongkoe, where a new battalion had arrived to take its place.
According to the KIA’s Brigade 6, the KIA forces attacked the LID 99 convoy with landmines near the village of Namba Tek in Pangsai (Kyukok). One Burmese soldier was wounded in the attack.
“Our forces attacked the LID 99 military convoy near Namba Tek at around 10pm. They were returning to their battalion headquarters after changing with a new battalion in Mongkoe. As far as I know, one Burmese soldier was injured,” said a KIA officer from Brigade 6 who spoke to KNG on condition of anonymity.
According to locals, the LID 99 troops had been deployed in military camps in the villages of Mankang and Manjak, near Mongkoe.
Last Tuesday, forces from the KIA’s Battalion 36 launched a similar attack on a Burma Army convoy near the village of Kawng Hka. Three Burmese soldiers were reportedly killed in that attack, and 16 others were wounded. That convoy had been sent to replace the LID 99 forces that were attacked on Friday.
Meanwhile, peace talks between the Burmese government and the KIA and other ethnic armed organizations based in northern Burma appear to be stalled.
According to Duwa Lamai Gum Ja of the Myitkyina-based Peace-talk Creation Group, plans for a meeting between government peace negotiators and the members of the Northern Alliance scheduled for July 29 seem unlikely to go forward, as no agreement has been reached on a venue for the talks.
