A Military Council vehicle convoy carrying troops, weapons, and food has safely arrived at Numlang military camp despite an attack by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) along its route from Bhamo in Kachin State.
The convoy of 26 trucks, which left the town on 28 August, was attacked by landmines sometime between the villages of Myo Thit and Da Seng. However, because the ambush caused less damage than expected, the vehicles were able to continue on their journey.
A local anonymous source, who said that the convoy pulled up to the camp in Numlang at about 11 am on Tuesday, wasn’t sure when it continued on its way. “I think they’re waiting for more security,” he told KNG at the time.
The regime deployed military columns in Ma-U Pin, Myo Thit, Kon Law, and other villages along the Bhamo – Namsan Yang road as security a couple of days before the column set off from Bhamo. After the KIA’s attack, more troops were sent to aid it on its way.
The man said the convoy is being sent to help fellow soldiers on top of Hkaya Bum (mountain) as part of a massive operation launched in recent months to seize the Namsan Yang area near Laiza, the de facto headquarters of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation.
“Burma army troops are running out of food rations around Namsan, and I am sure they will send food rations for these soldiers. In the past, convoys delivered food rations to camps along the Bhamo – Namsan Yang road. This time, the military convoy didn’t stop in Kon Law and Myo Thit villages but traveled directly to the Numlang camp to continue sending food rations for soldiers in Namsan Yang,” he said.
From 26 to 27 August, regime jet fighters dropped bombs around the village where KIA forces are based.
A flotilla of nine vessels carrying soldiers, weapons, and supplies arrived in Bhamo on 19 August after departing from Mandalay at the end of July. These soldiers and supplies were then sent to Namsan Yang.
