Charred human remains were found in Pa Lon Twi village in Chin State’s Mindat Township, following a military raid on the area last week, according to the local chapter of the Chinland Defence Force (CDF).
Junta soldiers reportedly disguised as resistance fighters arrived in the community unannounced on November 7, occupying it until the early hours of November 10, after which the bodies were found by members of the CDF.
Fragments of human skulls and other bones were discovered amongst ashes when they cleared the area, the CDF-Mindat’s information officer Salai Ha Aum said.
“They burned the bodies and crushed the bones so that no one would figure out the exact number of victims,” he told Myanmar Now, describing the act as “cruel and inhumane.”
“The families of the victims did not even get to hold a funeral for them,” he added.
Following the attack, nine people went missing from the area, including three local men from the village, and six internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the neighbouring Yaw Region, which comprises Gangaw, Htilin and Saw townships in Magway. Following junta raids on Yaw villages, many IDPs had sought refuge in Pa Lon Twi.
One of the men from the village was confirmed dead, but the CDF and locals speculate that the charred bones belong to at least some of these missing individuals.
Locals claimed that the Myanmar army soldiers who arrived on November 7 were wearing uniforms from the anti-junta Yaw Defence Force.
“Four or five of them entered the village first and said that they were there to provide medical care, so the villagers did not do anything. Then, the rest of them came and started the raid,” Salai Har Aum said.
Pools of blood were seen in photographs of the houses and in several other areas in the aftermath of the assault on the community.
The CDF-Mindat tried to attack the junta force on the day of the raid but halted the operation after the military took 40 people hostage, including women and children, the spokesperson told Myanmar Now.
CDF snipers reportedly killed two military personnel during the incident.
The troops released the women and children but continued to hold seven men: the local and the six IDPs from Yaw. They were last seen with their hands tied behind their backs on November 8, according to a statement released by the CDF-Mindat.
Only one of these seven men, one of the IDPs, has been seen alive since, arriving in Htilin Township after the military left.
“We failed to protect people who trusted us with their lives,” CDF spokesperson Salai Har Aum said after the incident.
He added that the rest of the Pa Lon Twi locals and IDPs had been relocated to a “safe place.”
Myanmar Now has not yet been able to identify the battalions that carried out the attack on the village.
The military council declared martial law in Mindat in April of last year. While the junta maintains control of the urban wards, the CDF considers rural areas of the township resistance strongholds.
