Air raid on village near Chin State capital kills four

An attack by the junta air force hit a village house in Hakha Township, Chin State on Tuesday, killing four members of the family living there including a teenager, according to local sources. Two bombs hit the house, which was home to a family of six, according to a resident of Chuncung village, which is located some ten miles north of Hakha, Chin State’s capital and most populous town. According to reports, the attack occurred around 2:15am. Ram Kyone, a man in his 60s, along with his wife, daughter, and teenage grandchild were killed in the airstrike, while two young children survived, the Chuncung resident said. Locals said funeral preparations were underway on Tuesday morning. The advocacy group Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said in a public statement on Tuesday morning that at least 10 more people had been injured during the bombing. Another Chuncung villager, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said that his neighbours were providing medical treatment to the injured. "We believe they were targeting the school, but the bombs fell on other houses," the villager added. Photographs of the area where the airstrike hit show the bodies of the deceased and damaged houses on a hillside by a road. Although there has been intense fighting on the road between Hakha and the Thantlang, another town some ten miles to the west, locals said there has been no fighting on the ground near Chuncung. Myanmar Now attempted to contact Aung Cho, the junta’s spokesperson in Chin State, regarding the Chuncung airstrike, but was unable to reach him. The junta typically suppresses news of airstrikes, and has released no public statement about the attack on Chuncung. After the Myanmar military seized power in February 2021 and shot nonviolent protesters in the streets, armed resistance groups emerged throughout the country. In Chin State, locals initially fought against junta forces using traditional hunting rifles. Chuncung, which comprises around 300 households, is located on the Hakha-Falam road. In April 2023, after a battle near Chuncung in which regime forces lost two armoured vehicles, infantry troops set fire to the village, burning down some 40 houses. While some villagers are preparing to flee into the nearby mountains in anticipation of more airstrikes, others are staying where they are because they lack adequate means of transport. “It would be different if we could go to the plains or if the roads were open. As it is, we’re unlikely to leave even though you never know when airstrikes might happen again. It’s not easy for elderly people to hide in the forests for long periods,” the anonymous Chuncung villager said. There are nearly 4,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking refuge in Hakha due to fighting between the military and anti-junta forces, according to the Hakha Township Public Healthcare & IDPs Management Committee, a charitable organisation, with some renting homes in the city while others stay in IDP camps. Since late November, after Chin resistance forces captured eight army outposts along the Hakha-Thantlang road, the junta has increased security in Hakha, according to residents of the state capital. At the same time, the Chin Brothers alliance—a grouping of anti-junta forces allied with the powerful Arakan Army—has been attacking the military in and near the towns of Falam and Mindat since last month. The military regime is limited in its ability to deploy ground reinforcements to Chin State, where anti-junta forces have established firm control over most rural areas, and has instead mostly resorted to moving troops, ammunition, and supplies into the state by air. The junta also carries out frequent airstrikes in the state, not only attacking areas where intense fighting has taken place but also civilian targets like villages, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings far from any current or recent battlefronts. According to data released by the CHRO in late October, in the two years and eight months since the military coup, the junta conducted more than 500 airstrikes in Chin State, resulting in the deaths of 108 civilians, including children, and 231 injuries.

Air raid on village near Chin State capital kills four

A teenager, his mother, and his grandparents died when the air force bombed the village of Chuncung, Hakha Township on Wednesday

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