In a second airstrike on a village in Chin State’s Mindat Township by the military regime this month, two jet fighters dropped 500 lb shells. Fortunately, they landed outside the village, and no injuries or property damage occurred.
But earlier in April, a villager from Ouk Chai lost a leg, and 10 homes and a school were destroyed, when three jet fighters conducted at least 10 attacks using 500 lb shells and also strafed the village with machine guns.
The ensuing fire spread to the nearby jungle and burned for two days.
“I don’t understand why the jet fighters targeted Ouk Chai since there are no clashes around here,” commented a local man who declined to provide his name.
The village is located in the Taik Nel 13 area in Mindat Township, near Matupi and Paletwa townships.
According to the Mindat Chinland Defense Force, airstrikes using 500 lb shells and cluster munitions have resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians and the injury of 13 others in Mindat Township over the past three months.
Artillery shelling from Burma army’s Infantry Battalion 274 recently injured an eight-year-old and caused damage to homes in Mindat town.