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 out post son the remote mountainous frontier, a senior rebel commander said.
Dozens of rebels battled the Myanmar 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-led administration, Chin National Front (CNF) Vice Chairman Sui Khar said.
Spokespersons for Myanmar’s junta and India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Myanmar’s military leadership is facing its biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October, 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 over 100military 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.
Some 80 rebels mounted attacks on Rihkhawdar and Khawmawi military camps in Chin at around 4AM on Monday, eventually taking control of both outputs after several hours of fighting, Sui Khar said.
Chin rebels will now look to consolidate their control along the India-Myanmar border, where the Myanmar military has two more camps, he said.
“We’ll move forward,” Sui Khar told Reuters, “Our tactics from the village to the town to the capital.”
Chin State, which had been largely peaceful for years, saw fierce fighting after the 2021 coup by junta leaders with thousands of residents taking up arms, many of them assisted and trained by the CNF.
The Chin rebellion was backed by locals in Mizoram, in part due to close ethnic ties, and tens of thousands of people from Myanmar sought shelter in the small Indian state, including ousted state and federal lawmakers.
