A Myanmar junta airstrike killed five ethnic Chin resistance fighters, including two women, on Tuesday in western Myanmar’s Chin State.
On Tuesday afternoon around 4pm, Myanmar military jets dropped five bombs on the Mt. Victoria headquarters of the Chin National Army (CNA), the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF), the first ethnic armed organization (EAO) to join forces with the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) in the fight to topple the military regime.
One of the bombs landed in India’s Mizoram State, which borders Chin State, according to local media and a Chin political body. The other four bombs hit the CNA’s headquarters close to the frontier with India, killing five resistance fighters.
The Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC), set up to form political tasks in Chin State in conjunction with the NUG, issued a statement condemning the airstrike, describing it as an inhumane act.
The airstrike reflects the true attitude of the military regime that has seized power and is ignoring the will of all the peoples of Myanmar, said the ICNCC. The body added that the airstrike proves that the junta’s recent announcement of a ceasefire with EAOs is just a lie.
The ICNCC said that the airstrike has only made the Chin people more determined to topple the military dictatorship.
Ethnic Chin Dr. Sasa, the NUG’s Minister of International Cooperation, wrote on his Facebook: “This attack will make us stronger. We must remain strong and united in the face of this evil.”
“We must all continue to fight the good fight so that justice and federal democracy will prevail in Chinland and across all of Myanmar,” added Dr. Sasa.
Chin Defense Force-Mindat also condemned the junta airstrike in a statement issued Wednesday. The resistance group said that it will cooperate with not only all Chin resistance forces, including the CNF, but also with all resistance groups across Myanmar in uprooting the junta and building a federal democracy.
On Wednesday, residents of the Chin State capital Hakha took part in a silent protest against the airstrike, shuttering their shops and businesses, according to Chin news outlets.
Fighting has been ongoing in Chin State since April 2021. Chin resistance forces regularly attack military regime convoys, detachments and bases, inflicting heavy casualties.
