The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) captured the Kachin Border Guard Force’s (BGF) Battalion 1003 headquarters in Shing Jai Village in Kachin Special Region No. 1 on 22 October 2024.
The KIA launched its offensive on 17 October against the BGF base in Shing Jai Village, close to the Chinese border and Kan Paik Ti Town, where BGF Battalion 1003 also runs the town’s administration.
Colonel Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) said: "We’ve taken control of the Waw Hkyung Base, the headquarters of the BGF Battalion 1003 in Shing Jai Village, and completed all clearance work. Our frontline sources confirmed it to me.”
This was the second Kachin BGF base that the KIA had captured.
On 14 October the KIA launched an offensive against the BGF Battalion 1002 base in Lupi Village, Chipwi Township, before capturing the base the next day, 15 October.
Also in Chipwi Township, on 17 October the KIA launched an attack on the nearby Kachin BGF controlled town of Pang War, where BGF Battalion 1002 also ran the town administration. The KIA took control of the town and its administration on 19 October.
The Kachin BGF was previously known as the New Democratic Army – Kachin (NDA-K). The NDA-K was formed by a former KIA commander, Zahkung Ting Ying (a.k.a. S’Khon Tein Yein), an ethnic Lachik, when he split from the KIA in 1989 and aligned the group with the Myanmar military. The area under the NDA-K’s control in north-east Kachin State near the Chinese border covered all of Chipwi District, including Pang War Town where the NDA-K was based. In 1989 the area was designated as Kachin State Special Region No. 1.
Under the 2008 constitution military-aligned ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) were required to convert into BGF units or military aligned militias. In 2009, the NDA-K’s three main battalions were transformed into BGF forces.
There are many rare earth mining operations in Kachin State Special Region No. 1 that the NDA-K controls and makes an income from.
The KIA launched offensives in Kachin State Special Region No. 1. on 29 September 2024 and managed to take control of Chipwi Town that same day. On 2 October the KIA took control of Chipwi Township’s Hsawlaw Town from BGF and junta forces.
Initially the KIA offensive focused on capturing towns, villages, and key roadways before targeting the NKA-D battalions in mid-October.
The KIA now controls two of the three BGF battalion bases, Battalions 1002 and 1003, it also controls Pang War Town that was administered by Battalion 1002. The BGF still hold the Battalion 1001 base in Nuzungbaung Village and the nearby town of Phimaw which is administered by Battalion 1002. It also still holds Kan Paik Ti Town which is administered by Battalion 1003.
Currently, in Kachin State Special Region No. 1, the KIA controls Chipwi and Hsawlaw Towns and nearly all the territory along the Waingmaw to Chipwi Road, except for Waingmaw Town and most areas along the Waingmaw to Sadon to Kan Paik Ti Road.
