Tatmadaw soldiers, part of one of several large convoys travelling across Chin State in advance of major offensives against Chin resistance, burnt down eight houses in Falam Township after spending the night in an abandoned village.
According to a villager from Taal, the military also raided the houses of people who’d fled the approaching convoy in northern Chin State before the soldiers left on Tuesday 26 October.
They took food, blankets, furniture, rice cookers and livestock. Last week, the military had destroyed three houses during an earlier stop in the village, he told Khonumthung News.
The residents fled a fortnight ago after learning that a military convoy would pass by their village, which is 23 km from Falam town.
Taal has only 37 houses – 11 of which were burnt down by soldiers – and is located on the highway that connects Falam with Hakha, the capital of Chin State.
According to the Thlanrawn Emergency Response Committee, the military burnt down 13 houses in Thlanrawn village on 14 October and in Rialti, they destroyed all but one house, including the village church.
The Chin National Front and Chin State Defence Force attacked the convoy in Falam Township after it ascended into the Chin Mountains from Kalay Town in Sagaing Region on 11 October.
Thousands of civilians from seven villages fled from the advancing soldiers, who raided and attacked their homes as they drove by.