Myanmar’s Kachin insurgents take control of their border with China

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Probably the most highly effective rebel group in northern Myanmar had captured the final crossing in its area on the border with China in defiance of Chinese language efforts to press it and different Myanmar insurgent forces to make peace with the junta that seized energy in 2021.

The Kachin Independence Military, or KIA, has been combating for self-determination in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state on and off for many years and has made important advances towards the army over the previous yr.

KIA and allied fighters launched a last push for Kan Paik Ti city, 75 kilometers (46 miles) east of the state capital, Myitkyina, early on Wednesday and captured it by round 7 p.m., a resident and a supply near the KIA stated.

“The junta troopers fled to the border fence or to the Chinese language aspect,” stated a city resident who declined to be recognized for security causes. “Workers of the junta administration have additionally been fleeing from the border gate to China.”

Junta forces initially despatched an plane to fireplace at rebel positions however the city was quiet on Thursday, the resident stated. The supply near the KIA stated junta forces had launched assaults in different areas after the autumn of Kan Paik Ti.

Residents had no details about casualties within the newest combating.

Kan Paik Ti city on the China-Myanmar border in Kachin state on Nov. 20, 2024. RFA tried to achieve Kachin state’s junta spokesperson, Moe Min Thein, and the KIA’s data officer, Naw Bu, for data however neither responded by time of the publication.

The KIA and allied forces in northeastern, western and jap Myanmar have made beautiful features over the previous yr, placing the military underneath probably the most extreme strain it has confronted since shortly after independence from Britain in 1948.

However the insurgents' success has alarmed big neighbor China, which has intensive financial pursuits in Myanmar, together with vitality pipelines operating up from the Indian Ocean and mining initiatives.