The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has launched a counteroffensive in the jade mining hub of Hpakant Township, capturing a regime base and leaving four of its soldiers dead, according to local residents.
Clashes erupted on Monday in the Lone Khin-Maw Si Sar village tract as regime forces shelled and looted civilian homes in the area.
“Fighting broke out when the KIA and allies attacked a military post held by regime soldiers and local militias at Say Yone Gone,” KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy.
The assault on the base, located in an abandoned hospital, forced hundreds of villagers to flee.
The bodies of at least four regime soldiers were retrieved from the site on Wednesday as the regime continued to shell nearby villages from its command base 5 kilometers away in Hpakant town. The shelling damaged houses and wounded three civilians on Monday, according to a local resident.
“One of them needed urgent treatment for serious injuries but could not be transported amid the fighting,” he told The Irrawaddy. “Resistance fighters managed to get him to a doctor later that day.”
Locals say regime forces have occupied Lone Khin’s eastern edge and are looting civilian property under the pretext of security checks. Resistance groups have responded with mobile operations in surrounding villages.
Regime troops routed from Say Yone Gone have reportedly regrouped at a Buddhist temple in Maw Si Sar village, just 500 meters away. Locals are now bracing for a renewed regime offensive to reclaim jade mining sites currently under KIA control.
“The current lull in fighting will not last,” said another local resident. “We are still hearing explosions, and more regime reinforcements are on the way.”
Intense fighting is also ongoing in Kachin’s eastern townships of Shwegu and Bhamo as resistance forces retaliate against regime offensives.
The junta launched operations to recapture Kachin territory in 2025, a year after the KIA and allies seized strategic positions and lucrative Hpakant jade mines.
