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Junta deploys multiple aircraft to attack southern Chin State village

Four jets open fire on a community in Kanpetlet Township after clashes break out between reinforcement troops from neighbouring Magway and local resistance forces

Four Myanmar military aircraft bombed a village in southern Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township on Tuesday morning following clashes with area resistance groups, according to the anti-junta Chinland Defence Force (CDF), which participated in the battles.

The 11am airstrike on the community of Masartwi followed 7am clashes between the CDF and a 300-soldier army unit from neighbouring Saw Township in Magway Region. They had been sent as reinforcements to a growing military base in Kyin Dway, a small town on Kanpetlet’s border with Rakhine State.

“On land, there were two confrontations in the morning. Later on, they attacked by using four jet fighters from which they fired their weapons at least 20 times,” an officer in the CDF told Myanmar Now, adding that a church and several buildings were destroyed in the aerial bombardment.

A member of the local resistance was injured in one of the ground clashes, the CDF officer said, adding that the extent of civilian injuries and potential casualties from the airstrike was not confirmed at the time of reporting. 

On July 14, a 20-vehicle military convoy of another 300 troops from Laung Shey town in Saw Township was attacked by Chin and Magway-based guerrilla forces while they were en route to Kyin Dway. Following a fierce battle near the village of Yinke in Saw Township the next day, the army opened fire on the area using heavy weapons, killing a 12-year-old girl and a man in his 40s, and proceeding to burn down the entire community. Some 20 villagers were reportedly arrested while trying to flee. 

An additional 150-soldier column that left Kyaukhtu town in Saw later that night was also likely heading to Kanpetlet, according to the CDF and local sources. 

The CDF has issued warnings to the public not to use the road connecting Saw and Kanpetlet as of July 9, due to the high probability of clashes. Hundreds of residents from villages along the route, including Masartwi, subsequently fled. 

Kyin Dway, which is located on this road, was once an outpost for just a few dozen Myanmar army troops. Following the February 2021 military coup, it expanded to become a base for around 120 soldiers, police and army-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia members. 

CDF troops in Kanpetlet, photographed in early 2023 (Khonu Battalion)

Saw is considered part of the Yaw region in Magway, which also comprises Gangaw and Htilin townships and is adjacent to Chin State. Junta military columns frequently utilise the transport route from Magway through the Yaw area to launch attacks on the robust resistance movement based in Chin State. On a July 13 meeting in Naypyitaw, regime chief Min Aung Hlaing ordered his military and administrative forces to “step up” their efforts to regain control of such strongholds. 

Yaw-based defence forces, alongside the CDF, attacked a nine-vehicle convoy of 100 Myanmar army troops in June near Kyaukhtu before they could enter Chin State. Following the confrontation, two junta aircraft bombed the area at least 10 times. 

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