The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has seized the Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion 1001 headquarters in Chipwi Township – the junta militia’s final stronghold – on the Chinese border.
China in October blocked border gates with Kachin State and during a recent meeting told the KIA to stop fighting the regime.
But the KIA and Kachin People Defense Force (PDF) allies seized the battalion headquarters near Phimaw town on the Chinese border on Thursday night after three days of attacks, according to the Kachin media.
A military analyst told The Irrawaddy that regime and BGF troops fled to Ganfai town on the border, 14km north of Phimaw.
The base was the last of three BGF battalion headquarters under the control of Zahkung Tin Ying’s New Democratic Army, which formed the junta-allied border force.
Zahkung Tin Ying was given control of the so-called Kachin State Special Region 1, including Chipwi, Tsawlaw, Pangwa, Kanpiketi and Waingmaw townships. Chipwi and Pangwa are rare earth mining hubs with heavy Chinese investment.
The KIA and its allies recently seized Chipwi, Tsawlaw and Pangwa towns and the BGF Battalion 1002 headquarters in Lu Pyi village, about 10km from Pangwa.
The KIA sealed off Zahkung Tin Ying’s empty house in his hometown of Pangwa after taking control of the town, KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy.
On October 20, the KIA seized the BGF Battalion 1003 headquarters in Sin Kyaing village on the Waingmaw-Sadung-Kanpiketi road, around 10km from Kanpiketi.
The KIA is coordinating with several resistance groups across Kachin State, northern Sagaing and Mandalay regions and northern Shan State.
Around 10 Kachin towns and six in northern Sagaing Region and Shan State have been seized.
General Gun Maw, the vice-chair of Kachin Independence Organization, the KIA’s political wing, told BBC Burmese that the Chinese authorities recently asked the armed group to stop fighting the regime across northern Myanmar.
He said the Chinese representatives were told that fighting would continue until the military dictatorship was defeated.
