NAYPYITAW, 31 July 2021, (TON): The organisation’s spokesperson said that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked two Myanmar military bases in northern Shan State early Thursday afternoon.

KIA information officer Col Naw Bu told media that the Kachin forces fired heavy artillery at the junta’s military posts near two bridges: Nam Hkaing on the Union highway between Kutkai and Namphetka and Nam Paw, between Namphetka and Muse.

He added that the number of casualties was not yet confirmed.

Col Naw Bu said "fighting has broken out in many places these days. Fighting also broke out in the Mong Ko area.”

Nam Hkaing bridge is around 10 miles north of Kutkai and is a connecting point on the  Lashio-Muse section of the Union highway.

A woman staying in the Hokho internally displaced persons camp in Mong Yu Lay village near Nam Hkaing bridge said she heard the sound of artillery shells being fired for around one hour, beginning at 11am.

She said "because it was so close to us, we could hear the explosions. Out of fear, we did not dare to go out to see what was happening.”

According to a Kutkai resident “the junta’s military base near Kutkai town fired artillery shells back towards a base belonging to the KIA’s Battalion 9 under Brigade 6. Other Kutkai-based Myanmar military units joined the shelling.

The fighting took place in an area where the KIA’s ninth battalion is active. There have been frequent clashes between the KIA and the junta’s army along the Lashio-Muse highway.

Mong Ko has also seen frequent bouts of fighting between the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Myanmar military.