The number of people displaced by the conflict in Mindat Township has risen to around 17,000 as the junta launches counteroffensives against resistance strongholds in Chin State.

The figure is expected to rise further as fighting has advanced to within about 10 miles of Mindat town, the township’s administrative seat, according to a statement issued by the Mindat Township Internally Displaced People Committee (Mindat IDPs Committee) on June 2. The committee also called for urgent humanitarian assistance for those displaced by the ongoing clashes.

Junta troops, numbering more than 1,000, are advancing toward resistance-controlled Mindat Town, with fierce clashes currently taking place about 10 miles from the town. Mindat Town in southern Chin State came under the control of the Chin Brotherhood Alliance on December 21, 2024.

Since the 2021 coup, communities in Mindat Township have faced repeated displacement due to ongoing conflict. Between January 2021 and December 2024, 766 residents of Mindat Township died from various causes, most linked to a lack of access to medicine caused by junta-imposed restrictions, as well as chronic illnesses.

“The junta is once again using its notorious Four Cuts strategy, and the fighting is also intensifying. How far we can continue supporting displaced people largely depends on the level of aid we receive,” an official of the Mindat IDPs Committee said.

The Four Cuts strategy refers to a tactic aimed at cutting off access to food, funds, intelligence networks, and recruitment in resistance-held areas.

The Mindat IDPs Committee estimates that the number of displaced people in Mindat Township has risen to around 17,000 and is conducting censuses to obtain more accurate figures.