The ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Thursday launched an onslaught on a vital position of pro-regime forces near Kanpiketi on the Chinese border.
The Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion 1003 headquarters is located in Sin Kyaing (Shing Jai) village on the Waingmaw-Sadung-Kanpiketi road, around 9.6 km from Kanpiketi town as the crow flies.
The attack followed the KIA’s seizure of BGF Battalion 1002 headquarters in Pangwa on the Chinese border in Chipwi Township on Tuesday.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu confirmed the latest attack but added, “I don’t have updates about the fighting yet.”
The KIA already effectively cut off the trade route with China through Kanpiketi in June, when it captured Sadung town, where a junta tactical command was based, and Laphai village between Sadung and Sin Kyaing village.
The KIA then paused the offensive there before finally advancing this week to Laphai, where BGF Battalion 1003 is based.
The misleadingly named BGF is in fact an ethnic militia that is aligned with the junta.
The KIA has been attacking BGF battalions led by Zahkung Ting Ying, who broke away from the KIA in 1968-69 to join the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and control what became its 101st Military Region.
When the CPB collapsed in 1989, his group rebranded as the New Democratic Army–Kachin (NDA–K) and signed a truce with the then-military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Its territory was designated Kachin State Special Region 1, encompassing Chipwi, Tsawlaw, Pangwa and Kanpiketi, which are home to numerous rare-earth mines.
Under the 2008 constitution written by SLORC’s successor, the State Peace and Development Council, the NDA-K rebranded again as the Border Guard Force (Kachin–BGF), with three battalions.
BGF Battalion 1002, which the KIA on Tuesday seized on Tuesday, is based in Lu Pyi village about 10 km from Pangwa, a rare-earth mining hub that sits 64 km east of Chipwi town on the border with China.
For now, KIA forces are still clearing junta positions in the countryside and have not yet entered Pangwa, Col. Naw Bu said. Some junta soldiers and militias surrendered during the fighting, but their number is still unknown.
Local media reported that the KIA and allies also seized a BGF outpost near Pangwa and an outpost near Sin Kyaing village in Kanpiketi on Thursday.
The third BGF Battalion led by Zahkung Ting Ying—BGF Battalion 100—is based in Phi Maw on the border north of Pangwa. It is unclear whether the KIA has started advancing on it yet.
That means the KIA and its allies now control Sadung, Chipwi and Tsawlaw in Kachin State Special Region 1.
