Chin Resistance Disputes Regime’s Claim to Have Recaptured Thantlang

The Myanmar regime announced the full recapture of Thantlang town in Chin State on Thursday, but resistance forces dismissed the claim as military tensions remain high.

The mountaintop town has been fought over by resistance and regime forces since 2021. The regime has repeatedly bombed Thantlang and burned down thousands of houses there while battling resistance fighters, turning it into a ghost town.

On Thursday, the regime reported regaining control of Thantlang and its surrounding areas from Chin resistance forces. This is the second time the regime has claimed to have regained full control of the town, the first such announcement coming on October 29, 2023.

The regime said it recaptured a police station, schools, a hospital, a fire station and the town’s hotel zone during a counteroffensive from July 12-15.

It admitted that before the offensive, its forces had temporarily withdrawn from certain areas in Thantlang.

The regime claimed it managed to reopen supply routes and transport relief materials by both land and air, and carry out “rehabilitation” efforts in the area.

However, Salai Nai John Kim, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry of the Chinland Council, dismissed the regime’s claims.

“Thantlang has been an empty town since 2021. It’s in ruins,” Salai Nai John Kim said. “The regime troops come to take photos and then return to their base.”

Resistance forces are also present in the area, he said.

Salai Nai John Kim said the council is “doing what it can in some areas”, but declined to elaborate.

Due to the torching of the town’s homes during the post-coup fighting, residents were displaced to nearby towns and the Indian border state of Mizoram in September 2021.

“It has been five years, and I cannot go home. The town is totally destroyed,” a Thantlang resident who fled to the Chin State capital, Hakha, in 2021 told The Irrawaddy.

“Even if the regime orders us to go home, we’ll need to rebuild it from scratch,” he said.

Despite the regime’s claim to have retaken the town, civilians do not dare to use the Thantlang road, due to security concerns.

The regime first claimed to have reasserted full control of Thantlang town on October 29, 2023, but it fell back into the hands of resistance forces—including the Chin National Front and Chinland Defense Force—on July 22, 2024.

Since launching a counteroffensive in northern Chin State earlier this year, the regime has regained control of Falam, Tonzang and Thantlang thanks largely to its air superiority. Meanwhile, Rihkhawdar and Chika on the Indian border remain under Chin resistance control.

After appointing himself president in April 2026, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing invited the country’s ethnic armed organizations to join a dialogue while urging the People’s Defense Forces to surrender.