A woman was killed after stepping on a hidden landmine while searching for her missing husband, who’s the headmaster of a primary school in Paletwa Township located in southern Chin State.
A man from Paletwa town, who requested anonymity, told Khonumthung News that Nang Lao Kham, 43, was searching for Khine Aye, who went missing a few days earlier in Abawng Thar while looking for bamboo shoots, on Wednesday 24 August. Other villagers warned Nang Lao Kham not to search for her husband alone in the jungle, but she went anyway.
Khine Aye returned safely to her village the same day his wife was killed. It turned out that Arakan Army (AA) soldiers had captured him while foraging in the jungle before releasing him.
The couple has two sons and a daughter.
Fighting between the military and the AA continues around the village. Last Thursday, AA fought with the military near Abawng Thar and Infantry Battalion 289 shelled AA with artillery from Paletwa town, with some of the shelling reaching the village.
Some residents fled to the town about four miles away.