A student living on the university campus told MPA that the faculty and staff at the Bhamo University campus in Kachin State were forced to move to another place overnight and the junta troops were stationed at the university campus.
All the teachers, students and staff in the Bhamo University campus were forced to move at around 7:00 p.m. on March 7, then the junta troops deployed at the university campus.
“They (junta) forced us to move overnight. It was late at night, so I could not go back to my home place right away. So I moved to the technological university where they asked me to move. Some of them have already gone home on their own,” said a student.
There are more than 500 people including teachers, students, and staff at the Bhamo University, and most of them were forced to move to the Bhamo Technological University and some were forced to return to their homes.
“If it is convenient to go back, they allowed me to go back, so I went back. I’m afraid I’ll be trapped if there’s a fight,” said a university teacher.
“The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has been launching an offensive attack and capturing the junta frontline camps around the KIA/KIO headquarters since March 7, and 10 military camps have been captured,” a KIA source told MPA.
The junta troops are preparing for war by being stationed inside Bhamo town with a large force because the KIA is attacking an offensive on the junta camps along Myitkyina-Bhamo Road, so Local people in Bhamo town are worried about the war going to take place inside the town.
“The battles are getting very close to towns, so they (junta) are making preparations in advance not to lose control of the nearest towns, and the security in the town is very tight,” said a resident in Bhamo.
Currently, the military junta lost control of their frontline camps near Laiza, so they conducted airstrikes around the KIA/KIO headquarters in Laiza and fired heavy weapons into the city, resulting in the deaths of civilians.