Armed forces under the regime have reportedly torched 30 homes in Tedim after the Chin Brotherhoods Alliance began an offensive to capture its installations in the town in northern Chin State.
The Burma army soldiers set fire to homes near the clock tower in Myoma Ward at around 4 pm, and again at about 6 pm on May 27.
“Many houses near where I live have burned to the ground,” a man from the ward told Khonumthung News. “We didn’t do anything wrong or do anything to them.”
Dramatic photos of the wooden houses burning spread on Facebook. As there was no one able to extinguish the fire, it spread and engulfed other homes in the general vicinity. Luckily, it started raining and it eventually stopped the fire. Some of the properties affected were two stories high. The General Administration Development office, which is a government building, was also destroyed in the blaze.
Troops under the Chin Brotherhoods Alliance captured the Military Council’s ‘microwave camp’ near the telecommunications tower and the Tedim Township Progress of Border Areas and National Races Development Department office and captured nine soldiers as prisoners.
Most of the town’s population has fled, with many seeking refuge in the surrounding villages or Kalay town in Sagaing Region.
The Chin fighters are trying to capture the Military Council’s Infantry Battalion 269 headquarters and take the police station in the town, which is close to the microwave camp.