It was mid-May, and a cold rain had been falling steadily for days in Chin State’s mountainous Mindat Township, in western Myanmar. The rain left the high ground wet and slippery, and gloomy clouds blocked the morning sun as the rainy season began to roll in.
Inside a damp, hand-dug bomb shelter, a man in his 40s gripped his walkie-talkie, issuing urgent warnings of an incoming airstrike.
“A fighter jet just passed over Pauk, heading west,” he said, referring to a town in Magway Region roughly 33 miles east of the town of Mindat, seized by the Chin Brotherhood Alliance last year.
Walkie-talkies—commonly referred to by locals as “Icoms”—have become a vital lifeline for relaying airstrike warnings in Chin State, where communication is often hindered by the rugged terrain, downed phone lines, and limited internet access.
According to the man in the shelter. . .
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