KACHIN INDEPENDENCE ARMY

Subject: International Relations

Context: The Kachin Independence Army said the helicopter was shot down in retaliation for air strikes earlier in the Kachin province.

Concept:

A rebel group in Myanmar has said it shot down a military helicopter on Monday as fighting in the country’s northern and eastern frontier regions intensified following an army coup.
The claim by the Kachin Independence Army came as protests against Myanmar’s military government continued in Kachin State and elsewhere in the country.

Kachin Independence Army

The Kachin Independence Army is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in Northern Myanmar (formerly Burma).
The Kachins are a coalition of six tribes whose homeland encompasses territory in Yunnan, China, Northeast India and Kachin State in Myanmar.
The Kachin Independence Army is funded by the KIO, which raises money through regional taxes and trade in jade, timber and gold.
The Kachin Independence Organisation is a Kachin political organisation in Myanmar (Burma), established on 5 February 1961.
It has an armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, which operates in Kachin and Shan State.