Myanmar Junta Pounds Kachin Town as Flotilla Comes Under Resistance Attack

The Myanmar regime has intensified airstrikes on Shwegu, a port town on the Irrawaddy River in southern Kachin State, as part of its efforts to provide cover for a reinforcement flotilla headed upstream that has come under heavy attack from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied People Defense Force groups.

Resistance forces claimed the junta has used globally banned cluster bombs in its indiscriminate airstrikes on Shwegu.

Myanmar is not a signatory to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, but using such munitions in indiscriminate attacks constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law.

“There have been quite a lot of airstrikes around Shwegu every day over the last few days,” KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy on Monday. “Last Saturday alone saw 28 airstrikes,” he said.

He added that the regime has intensified aerial attacks, including those involving fighter jets, to provide cover for its flotilla sending reinforcements and rations to the strategic Kachin town of Bhamo, around 50 km east of Shwegu, where Myanmar regime troops have been encircled by the KIA and resistance groups for over a year.

Since leaving Mandalay on August 21, the regime flotilla of 15 vessels has advanced upstream on the Irrawaddy River along the Sagaing-Kachin border and has come under frequent attack from resistance groups.

In response, it has conducted indiscriminate shelling and bombardment of areas along the riverbank to clear the way for its advance, including 500-lb bombs and cluster bombs, according to the KIA spokesperson and resistance sources.

Civilian casualties have been limited so far, as local residents were warned to evacuate ahead of time by the KIA and PDF groups.

Col. Naw Bu said the flotilla was now stuck in Shwegu, where it had unloaded some of its supplies. Some escort vessels traveling upstream came under resistance attack on Sunday near Zinbon Village, taking heavy casualties, he said.

Remnants of cluster bombs dropped on villages in Shwegu Township by the Myanmar regime. / KZKTA

“They [the regime troops] all ran away. Some were killed or injured,” he said. “They were in chaos, and the ships retreated to Shwegu.”

The KIA and allied groups also captured a regime base in Zinbon amid intense fighting with regime ground forces, he said.

As regime troops push forward along the river, they are also conducting large-scale raids in four directions throughout Shwegu Township, triggering fierce fighting with the KIA and allied resistance forces.

Despite the regime’s extensive aerial coverage and constant airstrikes, the resistance groups managed to launch suicide drone attacks against two regime vessels on August 24 and seized a tugboat on Sunday. The KIA has declined to reveal details of the seizure.

Military observers said that despite devoting huge resources to protecting its flotilla—including using surveillance drones to gather intelligence on targets for its fighter jets—the military was having little success in preventing attacks by resistance groups.

“The regime is spending a lot of resources on aerial cover [for its flotilla], but it is not having much effect,” Ne Win Aung, a defector from the regime’s air force, told The Irrawaddy. “The resistance fighters now understand how to stay safe from the regime’s massively destructive bombs.”

He added that more airstrikes were likely as the regime seems determined that the flotilla will reach Bhamo.