KIA, Allies Repulse Regime Troops Trying to Reach Mansi
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied resistance forces ambushed junta troops advancing from Bhamo toward Mansi in Kachin State on Sunday, killing dozens and seizing weapons, according to KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu.
The regime troops were attempting to reach Mansi while KIA forces were occupied attacking junta vessels on the Irrawaddy River supplying the Myanmar military’s base in contested Bhamo.
Naw Bu said regime columns moving from Bhamo were intercepted near Kaungjar Yan Village, where the two sides clashed for the whole day. The regime troops retreated in the evening, but were ambushed again near another village.
“This morning, we conducted clearance operations and found over 10 bodies and many firearms,” Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy on Monday.
KIA frontline sources confirmed that the regime deployed infantry battalions—including Infantry Battalion 236—and units brought in from Taunggyi in southern Shan State, but these were ambushed before they could reach their old base in Mansi. Around 40 soldiers were killed, some captured, and hundreds of firearms were seized, the sources said.
“The column largely consisted of conscripts,” said one of the sources.
The battle comes amid the junta’s ongoing struggle to regain Mansi from the KIA-led resistance and hold on in contested Bhamo. The KIA and its allies began besieging both towns in December 2024, capturing Mansi on January 8, 2025, while fighting for Bhamo continues.
Meanwhile, the regime’s attempt to reinforce Bhamo by river has also collapsed. Since late August, at least 15 vessels in regime flotillas carrying rations and reinforcements up the Irrawaddy River from Mandalay have been destroyed or sunk by KIA-led forces.
In early September, resistance forces used suicide drones to sink or burn multiple vessels, including armed gunboats and tugboats, forcing around 190 soldiers and military family members to surrender.
On their return journey toward Kachin State’s Shwegu on Sunday, four more vessels were attacked, with two sunk near Sarwadi Village. On Monday morning, another tugboat was destroyed near Zinbon Village, Naw Bu confirmed. “Most of the flotilla has been wiped out—some [vessels] burned, some sunk. I doubt even a single boat would have escaped intact,” he said.
Despite deploying ground columns and heavy air support from Shwegu toward Bhamo, the regime continues to face ambushes by the KIA and allied forces, with fighting continuing near Sinkhan Village.
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