Kachin fighters seize second Border Guard Force station near China-Myanmar trade hub

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) claims to have captured a second Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF) base in Kachin State’s Waingmaw Township on Myanmar’s border with China. An alliance of forces led by the KIA overran the BGF’s No. 1003 station in the township’s Shing Jai (Sin Kyaing or Shan Keng) village on Monday after five days of fighting, a KIA spokesperson said. “We captured the No. 1003 BGF outpost yesterday at around 5pm,” the KIA’s spokesperson Col. Naw Bu said. “Fighting is still ongoing on the route to Kanpaikti.” The capture of the No. 1003 station follows less than a week after the KIA-led alliance seized the No. 1002 BGF post, located in Lupi Village six miles north of Pangwa (Pang War), Chipwe Township on October 15. Clashes continued in Chipwe Township as the Kachin ethnic armed group and its allies assaulted the rare earth mineral production hub of Pangwa, reportedly capturing the town on October 19. The No. 1003 BGF station is located is some 10 miles west of Kanpaikti, historically one of most-used crossings for Myanmar’s border trade with China, along with Kachin State’s Lwegel (Lweje or Loi Je), captured by the KIA and allies in April; and Muse, Chin Shwe Haw, and Kengtung in Shan State. Border trade has been brought almost to a standstill in Kachin State since KIA-led forces captured junta outposts along the major trade route connecting Waingmaw and Kanpaikti in June. Along with Chipwe, Tsawlaw, and Pangwa, Kanpaikti is located within an ethnically diverse territory of Kachin State—designated as ‘Special Region 1’—under the direct control of the Kachin BGF. The KIA claims to have captured Chipwe, Tsawlaw, and Pangwa with its allies’ support since late September. Three battalions of the Kachin BGF used to operate as the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), an ethnic armed group comprising three battalions that splintered from the KIA before signing a ceasefire with the Myanmar military in 1989. The NDA-K leadership later agreed to reconstitute the group as part of the Kachin BGF under the military’s command structure in 2009 and have since remained closely allied with the military. In July of this year, the 84-year-old Kachin BGF leader Zahkung Ting Ying issued orders to the forces under his command to expel the KIA and its allies from Special Region 1.

Kachin fighters seize second Border Guard Force station near China-Myanmar trade hub

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies have gained control of the towns of Chipwe, Tsawlaw, and Pangwa in the Border Guard Force (BGF)-controlled Special Region 1 of Kachin State since late September

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