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As the conflict between the military and Kachin Independence Army escalates and both groups face pressure for funds, fighting in Myanmar’s jade mining hub reaches new levels of intensity.
By HPAN JA BRANG, EMILY FISHBEIN, JAW TU HKAWNG and ZAU MYET AWNG | FRONTIER
Until recently, all had seemed normal at the Lucky Men Hotel. While conflict raged mere kilometres away, hotel guests could try their luck at the casino, relax at the spa or sing the night away at the karaoke bar.
But those unlucky enough to be staying there on the night of September 6 instead ended up hostages in the middle of a pitched battle between the Myanmar military and Kachin Independence Army-led forces.
“As the situation escalated, our side began shelling the area with artillery and their side did as well,” said Colonel Naw Bu, information officer for the KIA’s political counterpart, the Kachin Independence Organisation.
The two sides have for years been vying for control of Kachin State’s jade mining hub of Hpakant, and that night they came face to face in the township’s Seng Tawng village, where the hotel is located.
However, the circumstances leading up to the clashes, and details about what happened after that, remain difficult to verify amid telecommunications shutdowns, a proliferation of rumours and the complexities of the conflict.
According to local sources interviewed by Frontier, sometime between midnight and 2am on September 7, the military raided the squat, three-storey hotel, taking workers, guests and armed combatants captive.
The KIA immediately responded and over the following weeks, the Lucky Men Hotel became the site of one of the most intense standoffs in Kachin since the 2021 military coup. Outside its walls, meanwhile, Seng Tawng village burned.
Arson attacks started within days, accompanied by regular artillery fire. Mai, a village resident, was at home when a shell crashed through the roof of his kitchen on September 8. “It was so loud my ears were buzzing,” he said. “I hid under a table and was cut by shattered glass on the floor.”
Mai, who asked to be identified by a nickname, fled to Mandalay city weeks later, when he was one of the last to evacuate the village.
The standoff came to an end on October 8, when the KIA and allied Kachin Region People’s Defence Force seized the hotel.
By then, at least 30 civilians had been killed and at least 4,400 people displaced, mostly to churches and monasteries according to local sources. An analysis of satellite imagery, conducted for Frontier by Nathan Ruser of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, indicates that around 350 buildings in the village burned down between September 7 and 14.
A murky conflict
Located near the world’s largest jade mines, the Lucky Men Hotel likely served a diverse clientele. Since the mining boom in Hpakant began in the early 2000s, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the region, risking their lives to dig in landslide-prone conditions. The Myanmar military, KIA and other armed actors also rely on the multibillion-dollar industry as a key source of funds.
These groups have long competed for power and influence in Hpakant, but while skirmishes at times broke out near the mines, an uneasy equilibrium generally prevailed.
But after the 2021 military coup, even mutual business interests were not enough to stave off violence. Less than two months later, the KIA threw its weight behind the nationwide uprising against the military regime. As it trained, armed and fought alongside newer groups including the Kachin PDF, it faced increasing funding demands and pushed farther into resource-rich areas such as Hpakant.
The military, facing new threats on its business and territorial interests, became increasingly brazen in its attacks – including in Hpakant, where it bombed a concert organised by the KIO and a Kachin business association in the village of A Nang Pa in October 2022. The attack killed dozens, including Kachin businesspeople, KIO personnel and ordinary civilians.
Over the past year, armed clashes have increasingly erupted in the township, but the Seng Tawng incident marks a new level of intensity, local sources say.
“Before, both sides attempted to negotiate when clashes were likely to happen because this was a commercial area, and both sides benefited financially,” said Ja Ra, a community worker from Hpakant who asked to be identified by a pseudonym.
“But this time, the negotiation failed.”
Frontier heard conflicting accounts of the initial encounter at the Lucky Men Hotel, and was unable to confirm who was inside at the time. Several local sources said they heard that high-ranking officers within the KIO or KPDF were among those captured there by the military.
In a phone interview on October 14, Naw Bu denied that any senior KIO members or military personnel were at the hotel. However, he said that about five people involved in “ground operations” in Hpakant were present, most of whom were from the PDF. He added that the military seemed to have entered the Lucky Men Hotel in order to use it as a base.
Shortly after the soldiers entered and took hostages, one of Kachin’s biggest tycoons, Yup Zau Hkawng, tried to negotiate a peaceful resolution – but ended up with shrapnel in his thigh.
Yup Zau Hkawng heads the Jadeland company, but came to the hotel on behalf of the Peace-Talk Creation Group. The group is a coalition of prominent businessmen who have been mediating between the warring parties in Kachin since 2011.
According to Naw Bu, Yup Zau Hkawng asked the military to withdraw due to the presence of businesspeople and other civilians at the hotel. Although the military initially agreed, it reversed the decision after reinforcements from another battalion arrived, Naw Bu said.
“Unfortunately, due to the artillery fire, shrapnel struck [Yup Zau Hkawng], causing his injury,” he added, without specifying which group was responsible.
Frontier attempted to reach Yup Zau Hkawng through an intermediary, but was told he was unwilling to speak on the topic.
Seng Tawng burns
Over the following weeks, hostilities escalated further. Civilians and combatants alike lost their lives in the fighting, while Seng Tawng and nearby villages were devastated.
Myanmar Witness, an NGO which uses open-source intelligence to investigate human rights incidents and collaborated with Frontier for this report, analysed several pieces of footage of the fighting and geolocated them to Seng Tawng.
Several of these clips were included in a compilation video posted to Facebook by Khit Thit Media on September 14. Myanmar Witness confirmed that one clip, seemingly from a phone camera, was taken about 40 metres west of the Lucky Men Hotel. Their analysis identified seven dead bodies strewn on a street, but could not determine how the people died. Another piece of footage, taken from a drone, shows four people tied up in front of the hotel, all seemingly alive. Another drone clip shows a larger group in the hotel parking lot, who Myanmar Witness said appear to be putting their belongings into bags handed to them by soldiers. However, it’s unclear which side the soldiers are from.
Additional images sent to Frontier by a local source, who claimed the photos were taken in the days after the military’s raid on the hotel, indicate further civilian deaths and injuries in the village. The dates, locations and other details of these photos have not been independently verified.
The fighting also affected nearby areas.
A jade miner from the neighbouring village of Sabaw said he was visiting a friend in Seng Tawng when the clashes broke out.
“As soon as I heard the news of the military raiding the hotel, I realised the situation had unexpectedly become unstable, so I attempted to return home,” he told Frontier.
He got back safely, but on September 19, artillery fire hit his neighbourhood in Sabaw, killing one civilian and injuring another. He also saw four civilians injured by shelling pass through Sabaw on their way to seek medical care within a few days of the outbreak of the fighting.
Houses in Seng Tawng started burning shortly after the military’s takeover of the hotel. Myanmar Witness analysed a video clip posted on Facebook and determined that in one segment, individuals are moving away from a burning building. The clip was geolocated to Seng Tawng, but the date could not be confirmed.
Several sources told Frontier they believed that the military had paid drug addicts to set houses in the village on fire – a claim that was repeated by several local media outlets. Since the coup, the military has frequently used proxy militias to commit arson and other acts of violence, but its use of drug addicts in particular remains unsubstantiated.
In Hpakant, however, the claim that drug users burned houses may have particularly struck a nerve with the local population. The mining region has long suffered from an addiction scourge, which the KIA and faith-based community groups have sometimes attempted to eradicate with harsh methods.
Although unconfirmed, the rumours about who committed the arson have had real-life consequences. A video reel posted on Facebook on October 11, and purportedly taken in Seng Tawng, shows a man standing over a group of around 14 people lying face-down with their hands bound, accusing them of burning down homes on the military’s orders. Naw Bu told Frontier that he was aware of the video but could not confirm whether the KIA was involved. He added that the KIA had detained around 200 drug users in the area and questioned them about the fires, but that the detainees had denied involvement.
On September 12, the KIA and Kachin PDF captured the Seng Tawng police station. Local sources say the military launched numerous airstrikes on the village over the following weeks, mostly targeting the area where the hotel and police station are located.
Myanmar Witness analysed one video clip of an air strike, released by The 74 Media on October 8, and determined that the military had used a K-8 type jet. The date and location of the footage could not be confirmed.
“They are throwing sand on the meat they cannot eat,” said Ja Ra, the community worker, using a Burmese saying. “If they don’t get something, they destroy it.”
A trail of destruction
As the damage to Seng Tawng worsened and casualties increased, the situation inside the hotel appeared deadlocked. A resident, nicknamed Naw Naw, said the military released many of the hostages after around two weeks, but continued to hold some inside the hotel.
The local population, meanwhile, grew increasingly weary. “We don’t want [resistance forces] to prolong the situation,” Tu Awng, a Christian religious leader using a pseudonym, said on September 30 after fleeing the village. “They should consider alternative ways to confront the military junta.”
He added that the KIO and its armed wing should do more to minimise harm to civilians in future.
“I would like to see the leadership have a broader perspective and foresee problems well in advance,” he said. “They must always prioritise the well-being of the public and think about the consequences of their actions.”
A resistance fighter based in Kachin, who asked that his name and that of his group be withheld because he was speaking in his personal capacity, expressed solidarity with the people of Seng Tawng.
“I want to see an end to this situation, and I urge the resistance groups to take decisive action,” he said. “The locals have sacrificed so much, and as resistance forces, we must take meaningful steps in response.”
Naw Bu told Frontier the KIA initially tried to negotiate the military’s withdrawal from the hotel without a fight, to protect civilians and civilian property. When the soldiers refused, the KIA launched an all-out assault. He did not specify whether civilians were still present.
“In the end, we had no choice but to fight [the military] in order to drive them out,” he said. “Our primary objective was to get rid of the enemy forces stationed at the Lucky Men Hotel. Our mission’s success was marked by securing control of the location and completely getting rid of [military soldiers].”
It’s unclear how many combatants were killed in the fighting or what happened to the hostages. The resistance fighter told Frontier in early November that some of his comrades who were held at the hotel were still missing and presumed dead. By the time the KIA took over the building, the bodies of victims were already reduced to bones and could not be identified. The family members of the captured resistance fighters, he said, held funerals without their bodies.
On October 10, photos emerged of a body found next to Hpakant’s Uru River with bullet wounds. Several media outlets reported it to be Lieutenant-Colonel Thet Paing Tun, who led the military’s operation in Seng Tawng and is alleged to be the nephew of military spokesperson Major-General Zaw Min Tun. Frontier was unable to confirm the body’s identity.
The aftermath
While the fighting in Seng Tawng has stopped and some displaced residents have started to return, they are likely to face prolonged hardship.
Naw Naw, who stayed in the village throughout the clashes, said that many houses were looted after their owners fled. According to Mai, many of the people whose houses were destroyed have little means of building new ones. “Most people in Seng Tawng [already] faced livelihood problems and were barely making ends meet,” he said. “Rebuilding might sound simple in words, but in reality, it will be very challenging.”
Moreover, life was more expensive than ever during the clashes. “As a result of the incident, commodity prices have increased immensely, and the fuel supply has been disrupted,” said Mai in late September.
Because Seng Tawng is one of Hpakant’s biggest jade trading hubs, the hotel standoff also rocked the wider economy of the township.
Tu Awng, the religious leader, said the village’s famous jade market had closed. “The people who used to frequent the market fled, and those who relied on it for their livelihoods lost their income,” he said.
Other jade markets across Hpakant also stopped operating amid the fighting, according to a local activist. “While some areas are still engaged in mining and trading, operations aren’t running smoothly,” she said in late September.
The situation also affected mine workers, many of whom were already vulnerable. “Jade mining companies have had to close, leaving daily workers jobless,” said a jade mining company worker during the standoff.
Now that Hpakant’s jade industry has picked up again, the community worker Ja Ra said reform is urgently needed. “People have been mining without adhering to any rules or regulations,” she said. “The environment has been neglected.”
With the KIA expanding its control over Hpakant, she called on it to strengthen its resource management policies to limit environmental damage.
“With the ongoing revolution, they need more money, leading to increased mining activities,” she said. “Without proper changes and improvements, the situation is likely to worsen.”
Meanwhile, local sources say they’re growing tired of the conflict.
“There is a feeling among the youth that no matter how hard we try, we can’t succeed in this country,” said Mai. “I wish for everyone to be able to live and work in peace. I don’t want to hear the word ‘war’ at all anymore.”