A Kachin rebel at Hka Ya Bhum, an outpost of KIA in Lajayang. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

Ethnic Kachin rebels in Burma said clashes in the country’s north continued Saturday despite a government promise to cease fire, casting doubt over hopes that the bloody conflict there could end soon.

Burma’s military had declared Friday it would stop attacks against rebels around the town of Lajayang, near the country’s northeastern border with China, starting Saturday morning because it had achieved its goal of securing an army outpost there that had been surrounded by insurgents.

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Three Kachin rebel posts fell to Burmese government troops on Friday after a week of continuous government attacks that combined ground forces, artillery fire and airstrikes, Kachin rebels along the frontline said.

Government soldiers however, failed to take the strategic mountaintop post of Hwkya Bhum, which has been the focus of the recent attacks in the mountainous around Laiza, a town located on the Burma-China border where the rebels have their headquarters.

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The soldier was killed at a position called Kundi during firing from the Indian side that began at 10 p.m. (1630 GMT), Pakistan’s army said in a statement.

Two Pakistani and two Indian soldiers were killed in early January in the worst outbreak of violence in Kashmir since the India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire nearly a decade ago.

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Three civilians have been killed and another six injured — four seriously – after Burmese troops launched a series of mortar attacks into the heart of the Kachin rebel stronghold in Laiza on Monday morning.

It is the first civilian casualties reported in central Laiza since government forces stepped up its offensive against the rebel base last month.

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Kachin ethnic rebels battling the army in northern Burma say they have shot down a government helicopter, but the army says it crashed due to engine failure.

An emailed announcement from the Kachin guerrillas says they shot down the helicopter late on Friday as heavy fighting raged.

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