More than 30 junta soldiers died when junta troops fought a combined force of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Kachin Regional People Defense Force (KPDF) on 16 July in the area of Sezin Village, close to Hpakant, according to locals.

The fighting was in an area controlled by KIA Brigade (9), Battalion (31).

According to a KPDF source, there was fierce fighting between 80 junta soldiers and a combined KIA and KPDF force near Sezin Village on 16 July that started in the morning and continued into the evening. It resulted in the capture of a junta military camp.

The next morning, 17 July, two fighter jets carried out an airstrike on the neighbouring village of Phaya Ngar Zu and destroyed a two-storey building. At noon the two jets returned and launched another two airstrikes against Phaya Ngar Zu Village.

The bodies of the junta soldiers who died by the side of the road have not yet been collected by the junta, according to locals. It was also reported that two members of the KIA suffered minor injuries in the fighting.

The airstrikes have worried local people who fear more may follow.