Civilians have fled to Paletwa town in southern Chin State after Burma Army (BA) Infantry Battalion 289 shelled their village during clashes with Arakan Army (AA) on Wednesday, 24 August.

According to a local source who requested anonymity, 54 families from Abawng Thar are staying at the cyclone centre in Paletwa town and another 69 families are staying with relatives.

“We cooked a vegetable curry for them last night and a bag and a half of rice,” he told Khonumthung News.

Although almost everyone fled the village, some of the senior citizens were unable to leave because they couldn’t make the three-mile journey to the town.

Clashes have continued around Abawng Thar, where 300 people live in 127 houses, since fighting resumed between AA and BA, ending a nearly two-year unofficial ceasefire.

Christian churches and the World Food Programme have distributed rice and other rations to villagers affected by the fighting. More than 5,000 people uprooted by previous violence between the groups are staying at five displaced persons camps in the town of Paletwa and have been unable to return home for several years.

Due to renewed fighting, the military blocked the delivery of rice and other essential goods to Paletwa earlier this month, causing inflation in the town.