NAYPYITAW, 31 October 2021, (TON): Amid an escalation of both armed resistance to military rule and reprisals from the junta forces, Myanmar army troops shelled the largely deserted western Chin State town of Thantlang, causing fires that destroyed more than 160 of the town’s 2,000 homes. 

The attack came after a junta soldier was shot dead by the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) which has been monitoring the situation in Thantlang after members of the local resistance group said they saw him looting a shop.

a CDF spokesperson said “In retaliation for the killing, the junta’s armed forces occupying the area shot at least 10 rounds of artillery into the town, which started fires upon exploding. Within an hour, several troops had arrived at the location at which the soldier was killed and also began torching houses for no reason.”

The spokesperson from the CDF’s Thantlang chapter told media “they walked into the town at around 10:30am and torched the houses at random.”

He said that by 5pm, at least 40 houses had burnt down, with the fires continuing to burn throughout the night.

Nearly all of Thantlang’s 8,000 residents fled following military assaults that destroyed 18 homes and a government building in September. This too was seen as a retaliation against the public and the resistance after an attack by the CDF and the Chin National Army on a junta base reportedly killed some 30 soldiers.