Nam Hpak Hka suspension bridge immobilized by Kachin armed group

A map of the Nam Hpak Hka suspension bridge (in purple circle). Photo: KNG

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Tuesday used mines to damage the Nam Hpak Hka suspension bridge, making it unusable to government military vehicles in the Momauk Township area. The bridge can still be crossed by foot.

Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) central committee member La Nang said KIA Battalion 15 of Brigade No. 3 immobilized the 100-feet long, single-track suspension bridge located on the road to the Taping hydropower plant on the early morning of Tuesday.


‘We damaged the Nam Hpak Hka bridge used for transporting food to the Taping hydropower plant at around 3:30 a.m. Large cars and military trucks cannot pass over the bridge anymore, and the government cannot send reinforcements’, La Nang told Mizzima.

Trucks and cars that sought to travel from Momauk, a government-controlled area, or Sang Gang to the Taping hydropower plant had to pass over the bridge.

Government and KIA troops began firing mortar rounds on Saturday around Htonebo, a KIA stronghold at Bumsen. On Monday evening, both sides stopped firing.

La Nang said that the government troops could not overrun the Htonebo stronghold.

‘They can not seize it’, he said. ‘But, it’s a low area. So the government troops fired mortar rounds into it. That’s why our troops moved to a higher hill. The lower area is not our stronghold. Our frontline troops went there to resist the government’s attack, but our troops then moved back to higher ground’.

Meanwhile, the Chinese hydropower company made an attempt to remove 30 Chinese employees from the area but government troops would not allow them to evacuate.

‘The Chinese employees were not allowed to go back’, La Nang said. ‘They are held as hostages. The government troops used them as human shields. They may think that if they use Chinese people, the KIA will not fire. We heard that the government troops ordered Chinese women to cook for them’.

Within the past three days, Burmese troops fired an estimated 1,000 mortar rounds (81 and 120 millimeter mortar shells) into the KIA areas, according to the KIA.

Source:http://mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/5415-nam-hpak-hka-suspension-bridge-immobilized-by-kachin-armed-group.html