🔗 Share this article

In the dead of night last month, Iang Za Kim heard blasts in a adjacent village, followed by military aircraft circling the area. She ran out her home to see plumes of smoke in the distance.

"We were petrified. We feared the military's aircraft would bomb us too. So we seized our essentials – provisions and garments and fled into the woodlands around our village."

Her face trembles as she narrates the account of what occurred on 26 November in her village, found in Myanmar's western Chin region. She's among thousands of civilians who've fled their homes in recent weeks following the Burmese military launched a fierce campaign of aerial attacks, coupled with a land assault in resistance territory across the country.

Residents of Chin state have labeled the junta's latest offensive as the most brutal it has unleashed in over three years. A large number of those uprooted have looked for safety in other parts of the state. Iang is part of a group that entered into Mizoram in India. Now housed in a rundown badminton court in Vaphai village, the group's meager possessions they were able to carry are stored in plastic sacks.

Ral Uk Thang has had to flee his home at the age of 80, living in improvised dwellings in jungles for days, until at last making it to safety.

"We are terrified of our own government. They are extremely cruel. Their military has invaded our and other villages in the past, they've taken citizens, tortured them, and destroyed residences," he says.

It is challenging to converse with Burmese civilians without restriction. Myanmar's military government does not allow unfettered entry in the country for international reporters. It took over the country in a coup in February 2021, shortly after the last election.

Humanitarian Cost and Deliberate Attacks

In its most recent campaign, the junta recently attacked a hospital in Rakhine State. Insurgent forces in Rakhine report at least 30 people were slain and more than 70 hurt.

A monitoring body states that over recent months at least multiple schools and six churches in Chin State have been attacked by military bombing, causing the death of 12 people including six children.

Reports indicate the bombing of a school in a community on 13 October. Two students lost their lives as they were studying. The bombs devastated their classrooms harming more than a dozen other students.

Once again, a father and his loved ones – a wife and two young children - have been uprooted. Previously in 2021, shortly after the coup, their home was destroyed by fire in an air strike. They reconstructed their existence in a new community. Now they're homeless again.

"I can't find the words to explain how painful and hard it is and what a tough choice it was to make to leave. But we had to do it to preserve our lives," he says.

A Questioned Vote

A prominent political group, which won landslides in the two elections before the coup, is not participating as its key figures are in jail.

"This vote is unwanted. Because the military is incapable of govern our country. They only work for the gain of their top officials. When the civilian leadership was in power, we experienced a measure of democracy. But now all we do is weep and mourn," says the elderly man.

Iang Za Kim believes the election will be manipulated. "Should we cast a ballot for a party independent from the military, I believe they will steal our votes and claim we voted for them."

The vote will take place in stages, with a result projected around the end of January. Rebel groups have declared it a pretense.

Resistance Battleground and Losses

At a base of a key resistance organization operating in the state, a leader states: "This election is only being held to perpetuate military dictatorship. It's not about the people's choice."

He indicates the areas where the heaviest clashes is continuing. "Battalions of hundreds of soldiers trying to push into the northern part of Chin state from four directions," he says. "The troops are being backed up by air strikes, artillery fire and by UAVs."

Access to such bases is very limited. Situated in thickly forested mountains, it is the heart of the resistance against the junta in Chin state.

At a medical facility at the base, numerous injured fighters were brought in overnight and had to undergo lengthy operations. Some of them have had to undergo surgeries.

Several were just teenagers when the coup occurred in 2021. Just about adults now, they've let go of their dreams to fight on the frontline against the junta.

"During the pullback we ran forward and I stepped on a landmine. We were injured in the explosion. Then we were targeted by aircraft. The airstrikes make things very challenging for us," states a wounded rebel. "Despite my injury, should I lose my life I'm happy to make the sacrifice so that future generations have a improved existence."

The impact of the brutality of the latest offensive is visible in ward after ward at the hospital.

However, it's the support and grit of countless numbers of youngsters who joined the fight that have helped the rebels make notable progress against a better-equipped rival.

People including 80-year-old the elderly refugee hope that following the vote, the junta will retreat, and he will be able to go back home.

"But I don't think I will live to see democracy restored in Myanmar," he says. "I pray my children and grandchildren can witness it some day."