The Three Districts government expelled Osman Batur and designated Dalelkhan as the executive of the Altay District. In August 1947, Osman Batur and the Nationalists attacked the Altay District. After two months of heavy fighting, the Ili National Army under the command of Dalelkhan and Leskin repelled the invasion. Cooperation with the Chinese Communists In September 1948, he became the chair of the Altay chapter of the "Union to Protect Peace and Democracy in Xinjiang." The Union was formed by the progressive faction within the Ili government, in opposition to the pan-Turkic and pan-Islamists in the government. In November 1948, as the Chinese Communists turned the tide in the civil war, Dalelikhan spoke enthusiastically of having the INA joining forces with the People's Liberation Army. In August 1949, Mao Zedong invited the Ili leadership to attend a political consultative conference in Beiping (now Beijing) to plan the establishment of a new national government. On August 19, Dalelkhan received the invitation in Burqin and sought to fly to Yining to join the main leadership delegation, but the airplane carrying him had engine problems near Hoboksar and was forced to turn back. He then drove to Yining and met the Chinese Communist representative Deng Liqun. He departed for Beiping via the Soviet Union with Ehmetjan Qasim, Abdulkerim Abbas, Ishaq Beg Munonov and Luo Zhi. All died when their airplane crashed in the Transbaikal region on or about August 27, 1949. Legacy In the People's Republic of China, Dalelkhan is remembered as a martyr and hero in the struggle against the Nationalist regime. His remains were returned to China in April 1950 and later reburied in a martyrs' memorial cemetery in Altay. Descendants Dalelkhan Sugirbayev's son married Nusipkhan Konbay's daughter, who was a colonel in the Ili National Army and later became the head of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. Dalelkhan's grandson, Tasken (Tasiken), was a contestant in the Chinese reality talent show The Voice of China. Son: Pätiqan Sügirbayev (, ) Governor of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture November 1954 – June 1955 Son: Shynghyskhan Sügirbayev (, ) (1937-06.05.2020) Son: Zuresh Dalelkhan References Works cited 1906 births 1949 deaths Ethnic Kazakh people Political office-holders in Xinjiang 20th century in Xinjiang Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union China–Soviet Union relations Kazakhs in China Ili National Army Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1949