Last week, Burma Army (BA) arrested Nguen Nel Thang, tied up the 55-year-old, and burned him alive in a house in Omyae Htoo, Kalay Township, during fierce fighting with civilian resistance groups that started after the military launched a clearance campaign and Chin State. The Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) cremated his remains according to Chin Christian traditions. A couple of days later, the BA arrested Maung Laromaw, 24, and also tied him up and burned him alive in a house in the same town, according to Chinland Defence Force (CDF) chapter for the Kalay, Kabaw and Gangaw area, who…
Author: Editor
The Chinland Defence Force (CDF) is trying to deprive the Burma Army (BA) of fuel by stopping trucks before they reach towns in southern Chin State. “Our aim is to stop the army’s operations in Matupi Township,” a CDF spokesperson from Battalion 2 of its Mindat chapter told Khonumthung News. The civilian resistance group said trucks carrying 180 fuel barrels to the hill town have been obstructed since 25 November. “We allow the drivers to sell their fuel to the locals at the current price, but they cannot bring it to Matupi town. Ultimately, we want to prevent fuel from…
A 49-year-old woman died instantly after stepping on a hidden landmine outside her house while returning from her farm in Mindat town with her four-year-old daughter and sister, both of whom were also injured by the blast. The girl was taken to Pakokku hospital in Magwe Region after losing her leg and suffering a head injury, said a representative of a local voluntary organisation. Her aunt’s leg was also injured in the blast on Sunday. Hung Awi, the deceased, had been living with her family on their farm in southern Chin State since May, when fighting between the Burma Army…
The military’s State Administrative Council has indefinitely closed Kalay airport as the regime’s forces wages a major offensive against civilian resistance groups from the area. All inbound and outbound flights have been suspended at the airport in Sagaing Region since 6 December. ”The airport authority has closed the airport without giving any reason and no one is allowed to enter,” a travel agent told Khonumthung News while she was in the process of informing all her customers who had bought tickets. The airport in Kalay was reopened only recently, on 27 October, after the junta closed it on 1 February,…
A pastor who has been missing for over two months after being arrested by the armed forces is rumoured to have died in a detention centre. Ngai Cong of the Brothers Church in Matupi Township disappeared a week after the Burma Army (BA) arrested him after an engagement with the Chinland Defence Force between Phanai and Ngalai villages on 23 September. “He had photos of a good hunting rifle on his phone and the soldiers found them when they checked his and another villager’s mobile phone,” says a man who is a friend of Ngai Cong. The pastor and the…
The Burma Army (BA) asked village leaders of 9 villages in Paletwa Township to contribute up to 30 villagers to form People’s Militia Forces (PMFs) to support the junta’s forces in southern Chin State. During a recent meeting, the BA Infantry Battalion 289 commander in Paletwa town instructed village leaders to submit a list of recruits aged between 18 and 50 by 3 December, according to a villager that requested their name not be mentioned. The BA commander told us to form a PMF ”for the security of our village” and asked for 30 recruits: 10 permanent and 20 for…
A Burma Army soldier killed his captain and another officer after getting into an altercation with them in southern Chin State, according to a source close to the army. The fragging incident occurred at the General Administration Development office where the IB 140 soldiers are stationed after they fought with the Chinland Defence Force in Matupi Township. Another source from Matupi town heard that the two men were not killed by their comrade but died in hospital after drinking ethanol alcohol. However, he wondered how this could be possible, as it was so difficult to obtain alcohol at that time.…
The People’s Defence Force for Kalay ambushed the military several times, killing some of the soldiers deployed to attack them in Sagaing Region. On Thursday morning, the Burma Army (BA) shelled the PDF from Kalay Technological University following the first ambush in Nagar Pwet village. Later, the PDF killed at least 15 soldiers sent as reinforcements from Kalay with landmines when they stopped near Chin Hsai while on foot to Nagar Pwet. In the afternoon, the BA burnt down houses and a chicken farm in Chin Hsai. Last Tuesday, 16 November, BA raided the PDF’s mountain camp in western Kalay…
Christian churches in Hakha Township recommended for their congregations not to hold Christmas events this year due to the threat of political violence in Chin State during the regime’s military offensive, which aims to crush civilian resistance groups but also targets everyone else. With so many Christians in Chin State, Christmas is an important holiday and its unusual for religious leaders to advise people not to gather for prayers in churches in the town of Hakha, the capital of Chin State, or hold other events to mark Jesus Christ’s birthday on 25 December. “We are especially concerned about people’s safety…
The military destroyed nearly 100 houses in Thangtlang during the ninth raid on the town in northern Chin State, already empty of residents who fled to other villages or to the Indian border during the first attack in late September. According to a civilian committee working to help the town’s displaced residents, the Burma Army (BA) destroyed 96 houses and St Nicolas Church on Saturday 27 November. Shells hit Zung Mung, Seik Pyo Yay and Lungtial wards with fires continuing until the next day. The army destroyed more than 350 of Thangtlang’s 2,000 houses during attacks on the town that…