Guwahati: Fierce fighting has been reported along the Indo-Myanmar border after Chinland Defence Forces (CDF) guerrillas mounted attacks on Myanmar military outposts, a few kilometres from the border town of Zokhawthar in Mizoram’s Champhai district.
One Myanmar refugee has died in the crossfire in Zokhawthar, security sources told ThePrint. Identified as Hming Chuan Mawia, the man was fatally shot while he was feeding pigs, sources further said.
The last Indian border town of Zokhawthar is situated about 3 km from the Rih Dil lake in Chin state.
Since Sunday night, the Chin guerrillas (CDF) have been trying to capture Rikhawdar town and Khawmawi village on the banks of the Tiau, about 4-5 km from the Indo-Myanmar border at Zokhawthar.
The guerrillas have inched forward over the past days, occupying junta positions block-by-block in fresh offensives close to the Indian border.
According to sources in Myanmar and Mizoram, the fighting started around 8 pm Sunday night and continued Monday morning as the resistance fighters captured junta territory in Rikhawdar, inflicting casualties at the company headquarters and forcing many to flee into the jungle. Rikhawdar, next to Khawmawi, is a busy trading border town in Falam District of Chin State in western Myanmar.
The CDF was formed on 4 April, 2021, and is made up of nearly 30 ethnic Chin armed organisations under different townships and regions, including those of smaller tribes. The Chins are one of the founding peoples of Burma (now Myanmar), but are among its most-persecuted ethnic groups.
Jointly fighting against the junta regime, these groups operate under two joint committees — the Chinland Joint Defense Committee (CJDC) and the ZZLMS Joint Committee.
On Monday morning, people near the border in Champhai said they could hear the sound of aerial explosions as the Myanmar Army used gunship helicopters to drop bombs in the vicinity of Khawmawi to secure their outpost. Most of their on-ground infantry had fled following the threat from the advancing guerrillas.
The situation was also tense at Myanmar’s New Haimual village, situated to the northeast of Rikhawdar town and about 7 km from Zokhawthar in India.
This village, sources said, was occupied by the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) – the armed wing of the exiled National Unity Government (NUG), comprising youth and pro-democracy activists.
Around 600-700 inhabitants from Haimual have already escaped closer to the Tiau, camping in huts near Melbuk village in Mizoram’s Champhai.
Meanwhile, there are around 2,955 Myanmar refugees in Zokhawthar, data collected by the Champhai administration revealed in January, though the number could be much higher on the ground. The town’s Mercy Health Centre, it is learnt, has also taken in resistance fighters injured in this battle.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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