Soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) claim that the Burma Army (BA) attacked them with chemical weapons during an air raid on their camp on Lon Ja Bum (mountain), Momauk Township.
According to a KIA officer who was on the front line, BA jet fighters attacked him and other KIA soldiers supported by the Kachin Region-PDF (KPDF) with chemical weapons on the mountain on 24 October.
“We felt very exhausted and weak immediately after the shells hit the ground, causing a huge cloud of smoke. We couldn’t do anything,” the officer has told KNG.
A KPDF officer reported seeing 10 BA soldiers in grey lab coats traveling with a column of the regime. He said the army attacked them with chemical weapons in Myo Hla village tract of Shwegu Township.
Three regime columns of over 200 soldiers from Katha and Bhamo have been attacking the resistance fighters on the mountain daily since 22 October.
The junta has frequently used jet fighters against the resistance fighters in Momauk Township and on the border between Kachin State and Sagaing Region since September.
Many civilians from Wawam, Lon Ja, Khun Ja villages and Nawng Pouk and Hker Nan wards of Momauk town have fled the fighting and taken shelter in churches, monasteries and with their relatives. Others have fled to Bhamo.
