NAYPYITAW, 04 September 2021, (TON): The Myanmar military has desecrated religious sites in Chin State in what locals say is retaliation for the growing losses sustained by the army in their fight against local resistance forces in the region.

According to a spokesperson for the anti-dictatorship Mindat People’s Administration team “three military columns have carried out attacks on villages around Mindat Township in southern Chin State since mid-August.”

During these assaults, the junta’s troops ransacked and then destroyed a church in the village of Chat on August 30, he said, as well as a Buddhist monastery near Khwee Rein village on August 24.

According to photographs seen by Myanmar Now, furniture was broken and Bibles were destroyed in the Chat village church, and the temple quarters in which the abbot was residing at the Khwee Rein monastery were also looted and left in disarray.

The people’s administration spokesperson said “they’re not even sparing the religious buildings this time. They have also burned motorbikes, destroyed houses and robbed families.”

There were no reported casualties in the attacks on the religious buildings as both the leaders and their congregants had already fled the area due to growing military tension.

Both a Buddhist monk and a Christian pastor from Chin State spoke to media on the condition of anonymity and implored the junta’s armed forces to spare their communities’ religious sites.

The priest said “one should never harm sacred places like churches or monasteries. It is really hurtful to the people who practice that religion.”