Junta soldiers stationed in Hmaw Wan Kalay Village in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township have threatened to destroy the village if they are attacked by resistance forces.
A column of about 100 junta soldiers entered Hmaw Wan Kalay Village in Lone Khin Village Tract on 16 June 2025 and set up camp in the yard of the Kachin Baptist Church there.
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters are stationed about 300 metres from the church where the junta soldiers are stationed. The junta soldiers have threatened to destroy Hmaw Wan Kalay Village in retaliation if the KIA/PDF coalition forces attack them.
A villager from Hmaw Wan Kalay said to KNG: “The junta column got here this morning [16 June], after leaving Mazwutyang Village. The KIA and PDF are positioned just 200 to 300 meters from where the troops are now. The soldiers warned us that if the KIA and PDF attack, they’ll destroy the village. Honestly, if fighting breaks out, the whole village will almost certainly be wiped out.”
In an attempt to avert such destruction local businessmen are negotiating with commanders from both sides to prevent fighting breaking out in Hmaw Wan Kalay.
Villagers have been so scared that violence is about to erupt in Hmaw Wan Kalay Village that 80 percent of them have fled the village since the junta soldiers arrived on 16 June.
The column of soldiers had entered Lone Khin Village Tract on 27 May and set up camp on Pagoda Hill in Mawsisar Village. From there they went out to Mansiwar Village and other nearby villages and destroyed heavy machinery and property belonging to jade mining companies.
On 31 May 2025 in Mawsisar Village in Lone Khin Village Tract junta troops burned down the staff dormitory at the 111 Jade Mining company compound and set fire to and destroyed two backhoes removed from mining sites near Mawsisar Village, along with other heavy machinery and vehicles.
Then on 3 June, soldiers returned and set fire to a backhoe, two dump trucks, and a guard tower at the 111 Jade Mining Company’s site in Mawsisar Village.
Five civilians have also been killed in sporadic fighting between the junta soldiers and the KIA in Lone Khin Village Tract.
In 2024, the KIA-PDF coalition captured several villages and territories in Hpakant Township. Locals believe that the junta column is going to try and re-take the territory taken by the KIA/PDF coalition in Hpakant Township.
A Hpakant Township resident said of the junta column: “Once it wraps things up in Lone Khin, it might head back toward Hpakant Town.”
Since the junta column entered Hpakant Township it has killed up to 30 civilians.
