A Kachin Independence Army (KIA)-led coalition successfully captured Kan Paik Ti Town, a key border trading town on the China-Myanmar border in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State on 20 November 2024.
Gunfire was first heard in Kan Paik Ti Town at 10:00 am on 20 November. By 2:00 pm the fighting had escalated and spread to the downtown areas and the outskirts of the town.
The town was defended by 800 junta troops, made up of soldiers from the junta army and its ally, the Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF). During the height of the fighting, between 3:00 and 4:00 pm, junta aircraft provided air support for their ground troops by launching airstrikes on the KIA, according to witnesses.
But, by about 5:00 pm, the KIA-led coalition had successfully taken the junta army base and police station in Kan Paik Ti Town.
A KIA source said to KNG: By around 5:00 pm, we, the KIA, successfully captured the entire town. Junta troops and their allied Kachin BGF members fled into Chinese territory by climbing over the border fences. The KIA has already burned down the hill base where the army was stationed. Junta troops stationed at a town hotel have also been neutralised. Currently, some remnants of junta and BGF forces are still around the Friendship Tunnel, and the KIA is actively pursuing and clearing them out.”
A resident of Kan Paik Ti Town told KNG that the fighting in the town suddenly stopped at about 5:00 pm and fires could be seen burning on the hill where the army base was located.
He said: “I can confirm that the town is now under KIA control. The hill where the army base was located is still burning. While the situation in the town has calmed since around 5:00 pm, some gunfire can still be heard in the distance, likely due to the ongoing clearance operations.”
During the evening of 20 November the KIA carried out clearance operations around the police station and army base, pursuing and eliminating junta and allied Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers who had fled towards the Friendship Tunnel on the China-Myanmar border.
To prepare for its assault on Kan Paik Ti Town the KIA coalition had been amassing troops at Wutmaw Village, a 15-minute drive from Kan Paik Ti, since 19 November.
After the coalition forces started amassing, rumours spread that an attack on Kan Paik Ti Town were imminent. Hearing the rumours the junta soldiers in the town started firing small arms and artillery onto routes into the town likely to be used by the KIA between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm on 20 November.
Just prior to the attack on 19 November the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) announced through its spokesperson, Colonel Naw Bu, that they had decided not to attack Kan Paik Ti Town for the time being. With hindsight the announcement must have been made in an attempt to get the junta soldiers stationed in the town to drop their guard.
Kan Paik Ti is the third-largest border trading post in Myanmar. It is in an area known as Kachin Special Region 1 that roughly corresponds to Chipwi District. Previously it was under the control of the junta-aligned Karen BGF led by Zahkung Ting Ying.
But, since late September 2024, the KIA and its allies have been driving the junta and the Karen BGF out of Kachin Special Region 1 and Kan Paik Ti Town was considered the last remaining BGF stronghold. All of Kachin Special Region 1 is now completely controlled by the KIA coalition.
In Kachin Special Region, 1 the KIA coalition forces have successfully captured the towns of Chipwi, Hsawlaw, and Pang War (Pangwa), as well as the three main Kachin BGF battalions: Battalion 1001 in Nuzungbaung Village near Phimaw Town, Battalion 1002 in Lupi Village near Pang War (Pangwa) Town, and Battalion 1003 in Shing Jai Village near Kan Paik Ti Town.
