Residents and frontline sources in Tedim Township of northern Chinland told DVB that regime forces recaptured Taingen village on Sunday. The village, located 91 miles (146 km) north of the Chinland capital Hakha, sits at the junction connecting northern and southern Chinland.
“The regime wants to hold elections in Tedim and Kalay [Sagaing Region], so they need to control Taingen and the road passing through it to prevent resistance forces from attacking these towns,” a resistance member on the Kalay-Taingen road told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
Khonumthung News, a media outlet covering Chinland, reported on Nov. 11 that over 2,000 residents from Taingen and surrounding villages were displaced by the fighting between regime and Chin resistance forces.
Regime forces reportedly recaptured the Mount Kennedy outpost from the People’s Defence Force (PDF)-Zoland on Nov. 4. The PDF-Zoland seized the outpost in November 2023.
A spokesperson from the CDF-CDM-Siyin resistance militia told DVB that a second regime column is marching towards Falam Township, which was seized by the Chin Brotherhood on April 7, via the Kalay-Gangaw road. Tedim and Falam are located 68-117 miles (109-188 km) north of Hakha.
The Chin Brotherhood is a coalition of resistance forces formed in opposition to the Chin National Army (CNA)-led Chinland Council.
The Chin Brotherhood’s political wing, the Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC), formed after the 2021 military coup to represent all Chin resistance groups.
The Chinland Council, which was established by the CNA on the second anniversary of the coup on Feb. 1, 2023 – following the CNA split from the ICNCC – agreed to merge with the ICNCC and form a single governing body called the Chin National Council in February.
Tedim remains contested between regime and Chin resistance forces.
Residents told DVB that over 70,000 residents from 50 villages in Kalay Township in neighbouring Sagaing Region have fled their homes due to a regime counteroffensive into Chinland since October.
Kalay is located 144 miles (231 km) north of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa and is home to the regime Regional Operation Command (ROC).
Chinland’s Mindat, Matupi, Kanpetlet, Tonzang and Falam, including the Myanmar-India border town of Rihkhawdar, have been seized by Chin resistance forces since the uprising to the 2021 military coup began.
Paletwa Township in southern Chinland, located 199 miles (321 km) south of Hakha, was seized by the Arakan Army (AA) in January 2024 after it launched its Arakan State offensive on Nov. 13, 2023. The AA now controls 14 out of 17 townships in Arakan.
The regime controls the Chinland capital Hakha and Thantlang, located 22 miles (35 km) west of Hakha, as well as parts of Tedim.
The regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) has announced that elections scheduled to begin on Dec. 28 — with polls to continue into January 2026 — will not be held in southern Chinland’s Paletwa, Matupi, Kanpetlet and Mindat.
The UEC stated that polls will be held in Tedim and Hakha during the first phase of the regime elections. Chinland has a total of nine townships.
