Anti-junta fighters in Myanmar’s Chin state were aiming to gain control of part of a porous border with India, after tasting early success with the takeover of two military outposts on the remote mountainous frontier, a senior rebel commander said.
Dozens of rebels battled the Burmese military from dawn to dusk on Monday to overrun two camps abutting India’s Mizoram state, as part of a widening offensive against the junta, Chin National Front Vice Chairman Sui Khar said.
Spokespeople for the Burmese military and the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Photo: AP / Kokang online media
Myanmar’s generals are facing their biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive late last month, capturing some towns and military posts.
The offensive, named by rebels as “Operation 1027” after the date it began, initially made inroads in junta-controlled areas on the border with China in Shan state, where military authorities have lost control of several towns and more than 100 security outposts.
“We are continuing our attacks in northern Shan State,” said Kyaw Naing, a spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which is part of the operation.
Fighting also erupted on two new fronts this week, in the western states of Rakhine and Chin, which sent thousands of people fleeing to Mizoram.
About 80 rebels mounted attacks on Rihkhawdar and Khawmawi military camps in Chin at about 4am on Monday, eventually taking control of both outposts after several hours of fighting, Sui Khar said.
Following the battle, 43 Burmese soldiers surrendered to Indian police and were sheltering in Mizoram, local police official Lalmalsawma Hnamte said.
“Whether they will be pushed back or not, we are waiting for further instructions from the central government,” he said.
Sui Khar and the Chin Human Rights Organization said they believed some of these soldiers might have been involved in atrocities against civilians.
Chin rebels would now look to consolidate their control along the India-Myanmar border, where the Burmese military has two more camps, Sui Khar said.
“We’ll move forward,” he said. “Our tactic is from the village to the town to the capital.”
Fighting was occurring across Rakhine state, said two residents and a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, a group fighting for greater autonomy that has seized military posts in Rathedaung and Minbya towns
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