The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied resistance forces have captured the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 437 base in Momauk Township, Bhamo District, Kachin State.
The KIA-led resistance seized control of the base at around 3:40 p.m. on 19 August 2024, following a month-long offensive that began on 21 July.
Colonel Naw Bu, the KIA press officer said: “We took full control of the battalion base around 3:40 p.m. The junta’s commanding officers had already fled earlier in the morning before we captured it. We still don’t know the exact number of enemy soldiers who remained in the base when it fell, but we did capture some alive. The details are still unclear, but what we can confirm is that we have seized the battalion base.
During the capture of the LIB-437 base, several junta soldiers were apprehended while others managed to escape.
In its efforts to hold the base, the junta used air support until noon on 19 August.
A five-vehicle convoy of reinforcements, including a tank, was also sent from Bhamo Town Kachin State on 19 August.
But, before the convoy could reach Momauk, KIA-led joint forces successfully ambushed it between six and seven miles away from the LIB-437 base.
They destroyed four junta vehicles when they set them on fire and seized another vehicle.
Several hundred junta troops were killed during the month-long battle, and a significant cache of weapons and ammunition was seized, according to a reliable KIA frontline source,
He said: “The base was completely encircled with no visible escape route, so very few junta troops likely managed to flee. There were around 300 soldiers in that base, and most of them were killed, while some were captured. We don’t have the exact numbers yet. The number of seized weapons and ammunition is so large that it’s difficult even to count.”
Junta troops from other Kachin State camps and outposts already seized by the KIA and defence forces had retreated to the LIB-437 base, swelling junta troop numbers there to 500 men.
