The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops pushed back Burmese Army soldiers from its Laiza headquarters on Thursday, seizing many arms and field artillery, said frontline sources.
Almost all government military columns in the N’tap Bum mountain range, about 8 miles southwest of Laiza headquarters in eastern Kachin State were pushed back to the mountainsides, said KIA officers from the headquarters.
According to KIA officers on the frontline, Burmese soldiers are fleeing from the strategic mountain range discarding their arms and artillery.
A KIA officer on the frontline told Kachin News Group, “We can push most Burmese troops out of the mountain range today. We seized weapons from the Burmese Army but small numbers of soldiers remain in the mountain range”.
A resident of Laiza said on Thursday afternoon, that people in the KIA headquarters relaxed from 24-hours monitoring when they heard that the Burmese troops in the strategic mountain range close to the headquarters had been pushed away from the mountain.
KIA officers on the frontlines said they seized the largest number of weapons from government troops in the mountain range in the five-month war.
A resident of Laiza said he saw some mortar rounds and small arms in Laiza today morning, which were brought back to Laiza from the mountain by KIA troops.
About 1,000 Burmese troops arrived on the N’Tap Bum since mid-October in order to capture Laiza headquarters.
The Burmese Army has been using an unidentified chemical weapon (or poison gas) in their offensive against the Kachin troops. Dozens of Kachin soldiers became unconsciousness, were given to bouts of vomiting and weakness after they breathed in the poisonous gas when mortar rounds loaded with it were fired.
KIA officers in Laiza said government troops tried to control the military strategic mountain range thrice but failed every time.
If government troops control the mountain range, it may pave the way to capture Laiza, according to KIA officers.
http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2156-kia-pushes-back-burmese-army-troops-from-laiza-headquarters.html
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