Falam township, Chin State – In the mountains of western Myanmar, photographs of fallen fighters line a wall of a rebel headquarters – an honour roll of some 80 young men, beginning with 28-year-old Salai Cung Naw Piang, who was killed in May 2021.The true toll on the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) extends beyond this hall and grows as war against Myanmar’s military grinds on in Chin State – a Christian region of the country bordering India where ethnic Chin fighters have expelled the military from most of their territory.
“Even if they don’t surrender, we will go till the end, inch by inch,” CNDF Vice President Peter Thang told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.
Launched in mid-November, the Chin offensive to capture the town of Falam – codenamed “Mission Jerusalem” – has come at a heavy cost. About 50 CNDF and allied fighters were killed in the first six weeks, some buried alive after direct air strikes by jet fighters of Myanmar’s military regime on earthen bunkers, Thang said.
Advertisement
Thang estimated similar casualties among Myanmar’s military, and more than 100 government soldiers captured, in the continuing operation.
Formed by civilians to fight the military after the 2021 coup in Myanmar, the CNDF has encircled the regime’s last garrison in a hilltop base in Falam.
“We are facing a difficult time,” Thang admitted.
“If God i …