Published
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The junta has burnt down approximately 150 houses in Mindat Town, Chin State whilst they were fighting Chin resistance forces between 9 and 11 November 2024.
Junta airstrikes on the town intensified on 11 November and fighting was ongoing.
A Mindat Town resident said: “It is estimated that around 150 houses were burned down, but the exact number is unknown and may be much higher. On 11 November, more houses were burned down. Clashes have been intense in the last few days.”
On 11 November at about 7:30 am an artillery shell fired by Infantry Battalion (IB) 274 exploded near the Mindat Hotel in the eastern part of the town, igniting nearby houses. At 11:30 am a junta Y-12 utility aircraft dropped about 30 bombs in batches of four on Mindat Town, according to locals.
Mindat Town based Ĥkl Mindat, who reports as a citizen journalist for Chin World and has 51,000 followers on Facebook, reported on Facebook that junta troops and police had poured gasoline on houses and set them on fire in the southern part of Mindat Town, along the ring road. Whether he witnessed this or it was reported to him is unknown. He also posted photos taken from a distance that showed smoke billowing from houses near the Mindat Hotel and said he could “still see smoke from the area.”
Since August, prior to the current fighting in Mindat Town, residents had been enduring airstrikes, drone bombings, artillery shelling, and arson attacks by junta soldiers on an almost daily basis.