Operation 0307 | |||||||||
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Part of the Myanmar civil war | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Tatmadaw | Kachin Independence Army and several other Kachin-based resistance groups | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Units involved | |||||||||
Pro-junta groups |
Other anti-junta forces: | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Unknown | 21,500+ | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
40+ killed "100s surrendered" [1] | 6+ killed |
The Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) offensive in Kachin State, known unofficially as Operation 0307 (after the date it began), 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. [6] Operation 0307 was launched alongside concurrent KIA offensives against Hpakant and northern Shan State, and concurrent resistance offensives throughout Myanmar.
Starting late February 2024, the KIA and KPDF launched raids on Tatmadaw positions in Hpakant. [7] During April 2024, the KIA launched attacks on Tatmadaw and SNA positions in Hpakant Township. They seized a base overlooking the road between Hpakant and Kamaing, where checkpoints were used to extort civilians and collect vehicle fines. [8] Eventually, they, along with the Kachin People's Defense Force, seized the last outpost near the Hpakant-Tamakan-Sezin road. [9]
After the Chinese-brokered ceasefire in Northern Shan State between the Three Brotherhood Alliance and the Tatmadaw, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), alongside the Kachin People's Defense Force (KPDF) and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), began an offensive into northern Shan State with the objective to capture Mongmit District. On 18 January, the allied forces began attacks on Mongmit, captured the Mongmit Police Station and 2 nearby villages. [10] Junta forces responded with air and artillery barrages on the town, forcing allied resistance to put the town under siege. [11] During the offensive on Mongmit, the KIA and allied forces also began launching attacks on neighboring Mabein on 19 January. On 21 January, after several days of fighting, allied resistance captured Mabein and most of the surrounding township. [12] During fighting in Mansi Township on the same day, 17 junta soldiers were forced to cross the China-Myanmar border. [13] On 25 March, allied resistance was forced to withdraw from Mongmit. On 26 March, the KIA captured Nam Hpat Kar village in Kutkai Township. [14]
The KIA and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), members of the Northern Alliance and allies, began to experience tense relations in the beginning of February. On 4 February, it was reported that 50 KIA soldiers entered Kutkai, which has been under the control of the TNLA since January. The soldiers told a TNLA checkpoint that they would not stay the night, but they proceeded to deploy in the town centre to celebrate Kachin Revolution Day, setting up flags and telling households to send representatives to a military parade they were reportedly holding the next day without informing the TNLA. In response, the TNLA removed flags and reportedly threatened unarmed civilians. [15] Due to rumours that the KIA was planning to advance on the town from positions in Nam Hpat Kar, residents of Kutkai were concerned that clashes between the 2 armies could erupt. [15]
On 7 March, the KIA simultaneously launched attacks on over ten junta outposts in eastern Kachin. Fighting primarily took place along the highway between Bhamo and the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, as well as around Laiza. The attacks were the beginning of a wider offensive in Kachin State- Operation 0307. [16] Over 8 March, the KIA seized three major junta bases and several outposts, including Hpyun Pyen Bum, a junta's closest forward base to Laiza. [17] The KIA and AA continued defending their headquarters and they allege that junta airstrikes had landed on the Chinese side of the border, east of Laiza. [18] During the fighting, a Lisu junta-aligned Lisu National Development Party militia leader was killed in Aung Myay Thit village. [5]
On 8 March, the KIA captured a junta camp north of Sumprabum and began attacking the town and its junta garrison post on 14 March. The attacks were likely part of a larger objective to block off northern Kachin for future offensives into Putao. [19] A week after the start of the offensive, Dawthponeyan subtownship was captured the KIA. [20]
By 22 March, the KIA claimed to have captured over 50 military outposts and 13 strategically significant junta bases around the Myitkyina-Bhamo Road, including: all outposts surrounding Laiza, battalion headquarters in 5 townships, and camps near the KIA's old headquarters of Pajau. [1] The Irrawaddy predicted on 23 March that the KIA might attack Bhamo, the headquarters of the 21st Military Operations Command, as the next target of their offensive. [21]
On 28 March, KIA seized two junta bases in Yaw Yone and Nga Gayan near Lweje town on the Chinese border in Momauk Township. [22] By 1 April, the KIA captured the entirety of the Bhamo-Lweje road. [23] On 9 April, the KIA captured Lweje, stating that border trade would resume after a few weeks. [24]
On 11 April, Namtyar village was captured by the KIA along the Hpakant-Kamaing road, cutting off one of the major roads to Hpakant. [25] On 24 April, after weeks of attacks, the KIA captured Sezin, cutting off all major roads to Hpakant and completely encircling the town. [26] After capturing the town's police station over a month earlier, the KIA captured Sinbo on 29 April, cutting off the Bhamo-Myitkyina road and encircling Bhamo. [27]
On 4 May, the KIA launched simultaneous offensives on junta positions in several areas throughout Waingmaw Township, capturing several junta bases. Between 4-5 May, the KIA captured the Sumprabum Tactical Command Center and several junta camps around Sumprabum. [28] By 8 May, the entirety of Sumprabum and its surrounding township was captured. [29] The same day, the KIA announced that it had captured over 80 junta outposts, including 11 battalion headquarters, since the start of the offensive. [20] On 9 May, the KIA reported that junta soldiers had withdrew from Momauk, and that they had captured both Momauk and neighboring Mansi's police stations. [30] [31] The same day, the KIA launched an attack on the Balaminhtin Bridge at the entrance to Myitkyina. [32] By 13 May, the KIA claimed to have captured half of Mansi. [33] On 16 May, the KIA captured the Nam Byu base southwest of Tanai. [34] On 18 May, KIA-led resistance ambushed reinforcements sent by the junta from Putao to recaptured Sumprabum, leading to heavy junta casualties. [35] The same day, the KIA launched an offensive in Waingmaw Township, capturing almost a dozen junta bases by 20 May. [36] On 19 May, KIA forces captured the junta base controlling the entrance to Waingmaw. [37]
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.
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.
Lweje is a town in Kachin State in northeastern Burma, across the China-Myanmar border from Zhangfeng, in Longchuan County, Yunnan Province, China. It is one of five official border trade posts with China.
Sumprabum is a town in the Kachin State of the northernmost part of the Myanmar.
Momeik, also known as Mong Mit in Shan, is a town situated on the Shweli River in northern Shan State. It is the principal town of Mongmit Township, Myanmar.
Mabein is a town in northern Shan State of Myanmar, formerly Burma. It is situated on the Shweli River and connected to Momeik, and to Bhamo and Myitkyina in Kachin State by road. Mabein lies only 90 km (56 mi) from the border with Yunnan Province, China, but 200 km (124 mi) north of Mandalay.
Hsinbo is a town on the Irrawaddy River in Myitkyina Township, Kachin State, Myanmar. The town was seized by the Kachin Independence Army in May 2024 during the Myanmar civil war.
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.
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 launched attacks on state security forces and the Myanmar Army responded, heightening clashes. The AA reached a ceasefire in late 2020 after eroding the central government's control in northern Rakhine. The power vacuum was filled by the AA over the next 18 months with state-building efforts, like their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.
The Ta'ang National Liberation Army is a political organization and armed group in Myanmar. It is the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF).
The Shanni Nationalities Army is a Shanni insurgent group active in northern Sagaing Region and Kachin State, Myanmar (Burma). Although it first was founded in 1989, it fully grew into an armed group in 2016. The SNA has five objectives – to gain statehood, to fight drugs, to establish a federal Union, to build unity among all Shan sub-groups, and to conserve ecological balance.
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 alliance, the SAC also contends with other anti-SAC 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.
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.
On October 9, 2023, the Myanmar military launched an artillery attack targeting an internally-displaced persons (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.
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.
Maw Luu is a town in northern Indaw Township, Katha District, Sagaing Region located on the border with Kachin State in northern Myanmar. The town is located on the Shwebo-Myitkyina Road and has a major railway station. The town was elevated from a village tract in 2018 becoming the second town within Indaw Township. Its location connecting Kachin State with Sagaing makes the town a major transportation hub.