Two killed by unexploded ordnance in northern Shan State; 80 injured at hot-air balloon festival in Taunggyi

Two killed by unexploded ordnance in northern Shan State

Residents of Kutkai Township in northern Shan State told DVB that two men were killed by an unexploded ordnance in Namhpatkar village on Sunday. Kutkai is located 47 miles (76 km) north of the regional capital  Lashio and 174 miles (280 km) south of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) headquarters at Laiza, Kachin State.

A Kutkai resident familiar with the incident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that one of the deceased was a KIA member, who along with an unidentified man, were killed in Namhpatkar village while attempting to retrieve gunpowder from an unexploded artillery shell. The KIA has not yet shared details about the death of one of its members.

The KIA captured the regime’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 123 in Namhpatkar village on Jan. 24. The KIA had been active in Kutkai before the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and its fellow Brotherhood Alliance member, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), seized the town in January 2024 during “Operation 1027,” which was an offensive launched on Oct. 27, 2023.