Locals flee as fighting intensifies near Myanmar jade centre of Hpakant

Thousands of residents have fled villages in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township in recent days as anti-regime forces led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) clash with advancing junta troops.

According to a resident of the area, fighting broke out near the village of Inmayang late Wednesday as a junta army column from Sutbum, a village about three miles northeast of the town of Hpakant, came under fire from the KIA-led forces.