Burma army troops and forces from the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) clashed in northern Shan state on Wednesday, less than 36 hours after both sides met for peace talks in the Chinese border town of Ruili. Fighting took place at Man Pying near Hu Hpyet town in Kutkai township.

The clashes which lasted more than two hours involved the Burma army’s Infantry Battalion No. 241 and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) special forces battalion No. 301 led by Major Hpauda Dut, according to a senior officer with the KIA’s 4th Brigade. The official declined to give his name for security reasons.

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Pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit today claimed responsibility for the attack on a CRPF camp in Srinagar that left five security personnel and two ultras dead.

A spokesman of the Hizb called a local news agency to claim responsibility for the attack. The outfit would carry out similar attacks in future also, the Hizb spokesman said in a telephonic call to the news agency.

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North Korea is taking every initiative to show the world that it is prepared for war, particularly as South Korea and the United States enters into their Key Resolve military exercise.

The Rodong Shinmun, the voice of the North Korean Communist Party, said in its report that it North Korea will devote its armed forces of 10 million to fight the United States in its own way.

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Kachin activists have reacted angrily to claims made by Burmese President Thein Sein during his European visit that there are no more hostilities in the border regions.

The president made the claim during his ongoing tour of Europe, where he is pushing for remaining economic sanctions against Burma to be dropped.

“There’s no more hostilities, no more fighting all over the country, we have been able to end this kind of armed conflict,” he told journalists following talks with Austrian President Heinz Fischer on Monday.

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Thailand’s government agreed on Thursday to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country’s south that has claimed over 5,000 lives since 2004.

The agreement, signed in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur by senior Thai security officials and members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) group, opens the way for the first formal peace talks with rebels seeking autonomy or even a separate state in the south.

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