News

In what could be the beginning of hostilities, a Burmese military helicopter was fired upon by the
Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization
(KIO) today at about 3 p.m. for the first time when it flew over Kachin state in Northern Burma,
said KIA sources.

KIA officials said they fired twice from small guns as a warning. The KIA did not use anti-aircraft
guns when the Burmese military chopper flew over KIA’s Alen Bum military headquarters at
about 3 p.m. local time, near the China border in eastern Kachin State.

The helicopter came from the direction of the KIA’s Laisin Bum military base connecting Alen
Bum and Laiza headquarters, and headed for Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

KIA soldiers fired shots to warn the chopper. They were not intent on shooting down the
helicopter, said Alen Bum military sources.

KIA sources said, it has communicated to the Burmese junta that it will take on fighter aircrafts
or troops intruding into KIA controlled territories to defend itself.

On September 11, the ninth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Centre, a Burmese Air
force fighter plane flew over KIO headquarters in eastern Kachin State near the China border
creating a flutter. It was believed to be undertaking a reconnaissance, said KIO officials in Alen
Bum.

The flight path of the helicopter today was the same as that of the fighter jet. There is a
Burmese Air force base in Myitkyina capital of Kachin State.

So far, the KIO/KIA has maintained it will not start a war against the Burmese Army because it
is keen on genuine peace and the political imbroglio resolved through dialogue.

The KIO is the strongest ethnic armed group after the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in
military-ruled Burma. Both have ignored the disarmament order of the junta in the end of

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