BBC: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An abandoned Myanmar military camp sits atop a wooded hill, overlooking a picturesque lake which is well known in these parts because of its unique heart-like shape. Landmine canisters and spent bullets litter the ground. Yellow wildflowers have sprouted through piles of corrugated tin sheets strewn about where soldiers\u2019 barracks used to be. Hastily dug trenches line one part of the camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the overcast sky, a flag flutters in the wind – red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the picture of a hornbill at the centre \u2013 the flag of the Chin National Army (CNA), an ethnic armed group fighting against Myanmar\u2019s military junta in the western Chin state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven months ago the CNA, along with local armed civilian groups, pushed Myanmar\u2019s army out of this camp at Rihkhawdar \u2013 a border trade town with India \u2013 and from other areas in the Chin state. It\u2019s an unprecedented advance for Chin insurgents fighting against Myanmar\u2019s military dictatorship which crushed the country\u2019s fragile democracy in a coup in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the first time that the military has lost control of these areas, and the BBC has had rare access to see these rebel advances in the west of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The win at Rihkhawdar was not straightforward. It came after multiple offensives were launched for more than a year. And for some families it came at an excruciating cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seventeen-year-old Lalnunpuii loved dancing. Her social media feed was full of her imitating trending viral videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe used to sassily dance around all the time. But she was not into dressing up. She used to idolise soldiers and would listen to songs all day that talked about soldiers who dedicated their lives for the country. She was brave and strong, and not scared of anything,\u201d says Lalthantluangi, Lalnunpuii\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the coup, the teenager convinced her parents to allow her to join the armed civilian movement in their village Haimual. In a handwritten essay at school, in English, she explained why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMyanmar is broken now\u2026 The soldier of Burma are enemy for me because they have no mercy… My future is People Defence Force and I like it,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In August 2022, armed civilians from her village along with other groups launched an attack on Rihkhawdar camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe rained drones on them for 13 days straight. Most of the bombs were made by me as I was the main welder for my unit,\u201d says Lalzidinga, Lalnunpuii\u2019s father. A truck driver before the coup, he became one of the organisers of the People\u2019s Defence Forces in Haimual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were unsuccessful in taking the camp during this attempt, but there were casualties on both sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BBC: An abandoned Myanmar military camp sits atop a wooded hill, overlooking a picturesque lake which is well known in these parts because of its unique heart-like shape. Landmine canisters and spent bullets litter the ground. Yellow wildflowers have sprouted through piles of corrugated tin sheets strewn about where soldiers\u2019 barracks used to be. Hastily dug trenches line one part of the camp. Under the overcast sky, a flag flutters in the wind – red, white and blue horizontal stripes with the picture of a hornbill at the centre \u2013 the flag of the Chin National Army (CNA), an ethnic… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39843,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39841\/revisions\/39843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}