The Chin resistance has suffered casualties during several days of non-stop conflict with over 200 regime fighters along the Falam-Hakha road in northern Chin State.

BA soldiers gouged out the eyes of a captured Chinland Defence Force (CDF) fighter before beheading him near Talan Zerl on 27 February.

According to the CDF spokesperson, Salai Zer Hnin and Salai Van Bwi Biek were killed between Dok Htit and Ramhtalo on 2 March. The BA fired indiscriminately, he explained, raining shells on resistance fighters and the surrounding area during ”intense fighting”. The CDF and Chin National Army, the armed wing of the Chin National Front, were forced to defend with ”hit and run” attacks against the BA soldiers, who had two tanks and 20 military trucks.

“It’s likely that there were many BA casualties and that’s why they torched houses in Dok Htit,” said the CDF spokesperson, explaining that the regime often retaliates by destroying people’s houses after its soldiers are killed in battle. The regime destroyed at least 7 houses in Dok Htit during the violence.

After the fighting ended, the BA convoy continued its route towards the capital of Chin State, Hakha.

Since October last year, the junta has launched its “Anawrahta military operation” in Chin State and Sagaing Region, named after the Burmese king Anawrahta Minsaw (1014 AD to 1077 AD).

Twenty percent of the population in Chin State has been displaced by BA offensives and fighting with Chin resistance groups since the regime overthrew the democratic government just over a year ago, according to civil society groups.