Civilians fled to safety after a convoy of seven Military Council trucks arrived in Dawt Hpung Yang and shelled several wards within the town in Momauk Township.
A man, who spoke with KNG on the condition of anonymity, reported that there was no ongoing fighting in the town when approximately 100 soldiers arrived and began shooting. They entered on 7 September from the west, not via the Bhamo – Myitkyina vehicle road.
People residing in Pang Kawng Muu and Lon Jon Yang wards, where the attacks occurred, along with residents from other parts of the town, had already evacuated to safer areas long before the soldiers arrived.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had ambushed the convoy on the Tein Phyar road around midday the previous day as it was leaving Kon Law.
The convoy had initially departed from Bhamo earlier in the month, consisting of 10 trucks evenly split between soldiers and food rations. It lost three trucks near Da Seng on 5 September before reaching Kon Law.
An earlier convoy of 26 vehicles is also parked at the regime’s camp in Dawt Hpung Yang. It had traveled from Bhamo in August protecting a flotilla of nine vessels transporting weapons, food, and troops by river.
Both convoys were dispatched to aid beleaguered junta fighters who are pinned down by the KIA in the Namsan Yang village area near the Kachin armed group’s Laiza headquarters. Since July, intense fighting has persisted, as the Military Council has been unsuccessful in gaining control over the area in Kachin State near the Chinese border. The regime has also deployed reinforcements from the Myitkyina capital. Daily clashes continue along the Bhamo – Myitkyina highway.
