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Ethnic Chin and Rakhine rebels now control 85% of western Myanmar’s Chin state and expect to seize control of another key township from the country’s military soon, a Chin official said Monday.
Fighting in Chin has escalated in recent months, as rebels seek to remove junta forces that occupied the state following the military’s February 2021 coup d’etat.
Salai Yaw Mang, the spokesperson of the Chin Brotherhood Alliance, or CBA, said his group is in control of Mindat, Matup and Kanpetlet — three of Chin state’s nine townships — while the Chinland Defense Force, or CDF, controls the township of Tonzang.
The ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army, or AA, controls a fifth township — Paletwa — leaving only the townships of Tidim, Thantlang, Hakha and Falam under junta control, he said during a press briefing on Monday.
All told, rebels now occupy 85% of Chin state by land area, said Salai Yaw Mang, adding that the CBA “expect[s] Falam will be liberated soon.”
“So, there are four towns under the junta, and we are conducting an offensive against [Falam],” he said. “It can be said that 80-85% of Chin state has been completely liberated.”
The CBA now controls all of Falam except for the junta’s Infantry Battalion 268, based on the outskirts of the town, he said.
Seizing Kanpetlet and Mindat
Salai Yaw Mang’s comments followed the CBA’s announcement on Sunday that it was launching an offensive to seize Kanpetlet, prompting junta troops to flee and the CBA to take control, according to CDF forces in the township.
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Salai Aung Lein, the chief of the CDF Kanpetlet, said that his forces are hunting down the fleeing junta troops.
“While preparing to take control of the town, we surrounded it for about five months, systematically weakening their forces,” he told RFA Burmese. “Just as we were about to launch a major offensive, they fled from Kanpetlet. We are now tracking down the escapees.”
Salai Aung Lein said the CDF in Kanpetlet rescued a junta soldier who was shot and arrested by his fellow troops as he tried to flee, as well as two political prisoners and four other prisoners held at the town’s police station.
Meanwhile, the CDF in nearby Mindat recently announced that residents will be allowed to return to their homes there and in Kanpetlet “once landmines have been cleared” and the towns are fully secured.
Last week, the CDF and allied fighters seized military and police strongholds, administrative offices and other buildings in Mindat, which they began attacking on Nov. 9 as part of an offensive known as “Operation CB.” The group said 123 junta soldiers had surrendered and that it had rescued 13 political prisoners during the takeover.
CDF Mindat Chief of Staff Salai Thang Chune Pe said his group is “well-prepared” to maintain control over the town.
“Capturing a town is easy, but maintaining control over it is far more challenging,” he said. “We have extensive plans for construction and rebuilding ... We are working diligently to secure the town and ensure it does not fall back into enemy hands.”
Residents still displaced
Residents of Mindat and Katpetlet told RFA that the military dropped bombs on the towns on Sunday.
CDF Mindat issued a statement on Monday advising people to avoid the town due to “ongoing junta airstrikes.”
A displaced resident of Mindat said he plans to return home as soon as possible.
“We’ve faced various challenges as displaced persons,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal. “If possible, we want to go back home immediately. We’d return tomorrow if the relevant armed groups give us approval.”
Attempts by RFA to contact Aung Cho, the junta’s spokesperson for Chin state, by telephone for comment on fighting there went unanswered.
The CBA’s Salai Yaw Mang told RFA that capturing the towns of Mindat and Kanpetlet will “open up [trade] routes to Bangladesh and India,” which Chin state borders, and boost the local economy.
He added that control of the townships is “strategically important” as rebel groups turn their attention to neighboring Magway region.
The CBA has said it aims to strengthen its relationship with India following its successful occupation of Chin towns along the border.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.