Battle of Alaw Bum

Last updated
Battles of Alaw Bum
Part of the Myanmar civil war (2021–present) and internal conflict in Myanmar
Date25 March 2021 (first battle)
11-14 April 2021 (second battle)
Location
Alaw Bum Hill, Momauk Township, Kachin State, Myanmar
24°42′44″N97°29′18″E / 24.712117°N 97.488365°E / 24.712117; 97.488365
Result KIA victory
Belligerents
Kachin Independence Army flag.svg Kachin Independence Army Flag of Myanmar.svg State Administration Council
Strength
Unknown 100+
Casualties and losses
Unknown >100 killed, 38 taken prisoner

The battles of Alaw Bum were a series of engagements that took place during the early days of the Myanmar civil war on the Alaw Bum Hill in Momauk Township, Kachin State. The Kachin Independence Army attacked and captured the Alaw Bum military base forcing out State Administration Council defenders and repelling future assaults on the base. The Alaw Bum base is located on the China-Myanmar border near the KIA headquarters in Laiza. [1]

Contents

Timeline

First Battle

The Kachin Independence Army's battalion 25 and 10, alongside soldiers from the Northern Alliance, seized the Mong Pouk and Sheng Htong posts at the base of Alaw Bum hill on the evening of 24 March around 5:30pm. [2] The KIA troops then attacked and captured the Alaw Bum military base on the 25 March, after an 11-hour-long battle with the Tatmadaw. [3]

According to Kachin Independence Organisation spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu, the decision to attack was made after the Tatmadaw provoked the KIA by launching artillery attacks from Alaw Bum onto the KIA's Ferlam Bum outpost on 22 March. [2]

Second Battle

On the 11-14 April, the Tatmadaw conducted multiple assaults on the Alaw Bum military base in response to a Northern Alliance attack on a police station in Naungmon. The Tatmadaw's Light Infantry Battalion 320, consisting of 2 columns of about 100 troops, attacked the Alaw Bum military base. Only two or three soldiers of the initial attack attack on 11 April survived. [4]

An additional column from Light Infantry Battalion 387 was sent to attack the following day. [4] The Myanmar Air Force used fighter jets, making 14 sorties to the hill during the attack between 7am and 10pm on 12 April. The air strikes targeted KIA frontline positions, with the majority striking in quick succession around 1pm. According to local residents, the jets crossed the border into China at one point, before returning after China fired warning shots. Two artillery shells fired by Tatmadaw ground troops landed on the Chinese side of the border around 2pm and 5pm. [5] The battalion commander of Light Infantry Battalion 387 was killed during the fighting on 12 April, according to KIA sources. [6]

The fighting slowed down until it ceased altogether by 14 April. The KIA arrested 38 remaining Tatmadaw soldiers after the battle ceased. [4]

Consequences

The capture of the airbase, provided the Kachin Independence Army public support and attention. The Tatmadaw continued to attempt to recapture the base periodically, suffering heavy casualties each time. The battle of Alaw Bum would remain the only attack directly commanded by the KIA, with later battles being led by NUG-aligned brigades. [7] The capture of the base strategically stopped artillery attacks on key KIA bases and IDP camps as the Alaw Bum airbase lies close to the KIA headquarters in Laiza. [2]

On 30 April, the 77th Light Infantry Division attempted to retake the hill alongside six air raids. At least 20 soldiers were killed as the Tatmadaw failed to retake the hill. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatmadaw</span> Armed forces of Myanmar

The Tatmadaw or Sit-Tat is the military of Myanmar. It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the Border Guard Forces, the Myanmar Coast Guard, and the People's Militia Units. Since independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw has faced significant ethnic insurgencies, especially in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, and Shan states. General Ne Win took control of the country in a 1962 coup d'état, attempting to build an autarkic society called the Burmese Way to Socialism. Following the violent repression of nationwide protests in 1988, the military agreed to free elections in 1990, but ignored the resulting victory of the National League for Democracy and imprisoned its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The 1990s also saw the escalation of the conflict involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State due to RSO attacks on the Tatmadaw forces, which saw the Rohingya minority facing oppression and, starting in 2017, genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kachin State</span> State of Myanmar

Kachin State is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east, Shan State to the south, and Sagaing Region and India to the west. It lies between north latitude 23° 27' and 28° 25' longitude 96° 0' and 98° 44'. The area of Kachin State is 89,041 km2 (34,379 sq mi). The capital of the state is Myitkyina. Other important towns include Bhamo, Mohnyin and Putao.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myanmar Air Force</span> Aerospace warfare branch of the Tatmataw

The Myanmar Air Force, known until 1989 as the Burmese Air Force, is the aerial branch of Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw. The primary mission of the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) since its inception has been to provide transport, logistical, and close air support to the Myanmar Army in counter-insurgency operations. It is mainly used in internal conflicts in Myanmar, and, on a smaller scale, in relief missions, especially after the deadly Cyclone Nargis of May 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myanmar Army</span> Military unit

The Myanmar Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) of Myanmar and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southeast Asia after the People's Army of Vietnam. It has clashed against ethnic and political insurgents since its inception in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kachin Independence Army</span> Paramilitary group in Myanmar

The Kachin Independence Army is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in Northern Myanmar. The Kachins are a coalition of six tribes whose homeland encompasses territory in China's Yunnan, Northeast India and Kachin State in Myanmar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kachin Independence Organisation</span> Political party in Myanmar

The Kachin Independence Organisation is a Kachin political organisation in Myanmar (Burma), established on 5 February 1961. It has an armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, which operates in Kachin and Shan State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myanmar conflict</span> Ongoing insurgencies in Myanmar

Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948, the year the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination. Despite numerous ceasefires and the creation of autonomous self-administered zones in 2008, many armed groups continue to call for independence, increased autonomy, or the federalisation of the country. The conflict is the world's longest ongoing civil war, having spanned more than seven decades.

The 2010–2012 Myanmar border clashes were a series of skirmishes between the Tatmadaw on one side, and the DKBA-5 and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the other. The clashes erupted along the border with Thailand shortly after Myanmar's general election on 7 November 2010. An estimated 10,000 refugees have fled into nearby neighbouring Thailand to escape the violent conflict. There was concern that due to discontent with the elections, and speculations of electoral fraud, that the conflict could escalate into a civil war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kachin conflict</span> Armed conflict in northern Myanmar

The Kachin conflict or the Kachin War is one of the multiple conflicts which are collectively referred to as the internal conflict in Myanmar. Kachin insurgents have been fighting against the Tatmadaw since 1961, with only one major ceasefire being brokered between them, which lasted from 1994 to 2011, a total of 17 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arakan Army</span> Insurgent group active in Rakhine State, Myanmar

The Arakan Army, officially the Arakha Army is an ethnic armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded on 10 April 2009, the AA is the military wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It is currently led by Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing and vice deputy commander-in-chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng. The Arakan Army states that the objective of its armed revolution is to restore the sovereignty of the Arakan people. In a February 2024 interview, Twan Mrat Naing claimed that the AA had grown to at least 38,000 troops. Anthony Davis, an expert of military and security, rejected this claim and estimated that it has at least 15,000 troops in Chin State and Rakhine State, in addition to around 1500 in Kachin State and Shan State. In the early 2010s, the Arakan Army fought alongside the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) against the Tatmadaw in the Kachin conflict. Following the 2016 outbreak of conflict in Rakhine state, AA became more heavily involved in the Arakan region. In 2019, AA would launch attacks on state security forces and the Myanmar Army would respond heightening clashes. The AA reached a ceasefire in late 2020 after eroding the central government's control in northern Rakhine. The power vacuum would be filled by the AA over the next 18 months with state-building efforts, like their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Defence Force (Myanmar)</span> Armed wing of the National Unity Government of Myanmar

The People's Defence Force is the armed wing of the National Unity Government in Myanmar. The armed wing was formed by the NUG from youths and pro-democracy activists on 5 May 2021 in response to the coup d'état that occurred on 1 February 2021 that put the military junta and their armed wing the Tatmadaw in power. The military junta designated it as a terrorist organisation on 8 May 2021. In October 2021, NUG's Ministry of Defence announced that it had formed a central committee to coordinate military operations across the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myanmar civil war (2021–present)</span> Ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar since the 2021 coup detat

The Myanmar civil war, also called the Burmese Spring Revolution, Burmese civil war or People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war following Myanmar's long-running insurgencies, which escalated significantly in response to the 2021 military coup d'état and the subsequent violent crackdown on anti-coup protests. The exiled National Unity Government and major ethnic armed organisations repudiated the 2008 Constitution and called instead for a democratic federal state. Besides engaging this rebel alliance, the junta also contends with other anti-junta forces in areas under its control. Hannah Beech of The New York Times observed the insurgents are apportioned into hundreds of armed groups scattered across the country.

The following is a timeline of major events during the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), following the 2021 military coup d'état and protests. It was also a renewed intensity in existing internal conflict in Myanmar.

This is the list of important events happened in Myanmar in 2023.

On October 9, 2023, the Myanmar military launched an artillery attack targeting an IDP camp near Laiza, a town in northern Myanmar that serves as the capital of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). In the massacre, over 29 civilians were killed and 57 were injured. The incident occurred before the anniversary of the Myanmar Air Force's airstrike in Hpakant that killed at least 80 civilians and other KIO officials and soldiers on 23 October 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation 1027</span> 2023–2024 anti-junta military operation in Myanmar

Operation 1027 is an ongoing military offensive conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a military coalition composed of three ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar: the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), allied with other rebel forces in the country, against the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's ruling military junta.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance ;, also known as Brotherhood Alliance, is an alliance between the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army formed in June 2019.

This is the list of important events happened in Myanmar in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Laukkai</span> 2023–2024 military offensive in Myanmar

The Battle of Laukkai was a military offensive conducted by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) encircling and capturing Laukkai, the capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in northeastern Myanmar. The battle was part of the larger Operation 1027, a joint military operation conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance coalition of three ethnic armed organisations and part of the overall renewed civil war in Myanmar.

The Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) offensive in Kachin State, known unofficially as Operation 0307, is an ongoing military operation against the Tatmadaw military junta of Myanmar which began on 7 March 2024. Primarily centred along the road connecting Myitkyina to Bhamo, Operation 0307 was launched to capture junta bases which could threaten Laiza, the headquarters of the KIA. Operation 0307 was launched alongside concurrent KIA offensives against Hpakant and northern Shan State, and concurrent resistance offensives throughout Myanmar.

References

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  2. 1 2 3 "KIA Captures Strategic Tatmadaw Hilltop Camp in Kachin State". BNI Online. 29 March 2021. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023.
  3. "kia seizes Myanmar military base in kachin, - ОВА". myanmar-now. 25 March 2021. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Myanmar troops sustain heavy casualties Kachin keep control strategic base". www.irrawaddy.com. 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  5. KLN (13 April 2021). "SAC's fighter jets incessantly bomb Alaw Bum, artillery shells fell into China". Kachinland News. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023.
  6. "Myanmar Military Suffers Heavy Casualties in Fierce Fighting With Ethnic Armed Groups". The Irrawaddy. 13 April 2021. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023.
  7. Ko Oo (10 November 2022). "KIA Poses Formidable Threat to Junta Military in Northern Myanmar". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023.