A civilian resistance group denied responsibility for two bombs at a bank and government office in Paletwa, accusing an ethnic armed organization (EAO) of planting them in a small town in southern Chin State.
A Chinland Defense Force member in Paletwa told Khonumthung News they had nothing to do with the explosions in front of Myanma Economic Bank and General Administration Development office.
Both blasts occurred a minute apart starting with the government office at 7:15 am on May 29.
“We would have sent a warning before doing something like this,” the official said. “We won’t make trouble for the people because CDF formed to protect the people.”
The official blamed Arakan Army (AA) for the blasts. “The EAO has the backing of the military council. We’re investigating these explosions in Paletwa.”
AA was fighting with Burma Army in southern Chin and northern Rakhine states for several years until an informal ceasefire was brokered after the 2020 election and before the military staged a coup.
In April, CDF opened chapters in all of the nine townships in Chin State to protect civilians who joined the protest movement, according to the leader of the Mindat chapter.
Most of the population of the town in southern Chin State fled after the military attacked CDF and residents with artillery in mid-May.
Now the majority of townspeople are staying at ill-equipped camps in the jungle without enough shelters for everyone during the rainy season.
There is very little medicine in the camps and whatever food they have is running out. Meanwhile, volunteers attempting to deliver rations to camps are being shot at by Burma Army snipers waiting on the roadside.