Myanmar Regime Soldiers Kill Civilians in Chin State

By Hein Htoo Zan 23 January 2023

Myanmar junta troops killed at least two residents of a Chin State village over the last week, according to the local National Unity Government administration.

The Matupi Township People’s Administrative Body found six corpses on January 22, following a firefight between military regime troops and the Chin Defense Force-Matupi (CDF-Matupi), an ethnic Chin resistance group. Among the dead bodies were two residents of Nga Lai Village, Matupi Township. They were named as Salai Van Bate and Salai Lav Lian.

“Both of them are civilians. On January 15, junta troops raided the village and they arrested the men then. We found out later that one of them was killed when his house was torched, while the body of the other man was found at the village cemetery,” said a member of the Matupi Township People’s Administrative Body.

So far, the identities of the other four people found dead are unknown. All four corpses were badly burned, making identification difficult.

Regime forces also torched houses and a church in Nga Lai Village, as well as using a bulldozer to destroy properties, according to a statement from the township People’s Administrative Body.

A combined force of fighters from CDF-Matupi, CDF-Mara and CDF-Zotung responded to the junta’s assault on Nga Lai Village by launching an attack on a Myanmar military outpost on the morning of January 21, as well as ambushing a column of regime reinforcements.

“We initiated clashes at five locations on the Mindat-Matupi Road on January 21. The regime forces suffered at least 17 casualties,” said a CDF-Matupi spokesperson.

The Irrawaddy was unable to verify junta casualties independently.