Myanmar’s military destroyed two churches in predominantly Christian areas of Chin and Kachin states this month, bombing a Presbyterian church in the town of Mindat and burning a Baptist church outside the town of Bhamo. Two military jets that took off from an air base in Magway made two bombing runs over Mindat at about 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom.
The jets dropped four bombs, which landed at two sites in the town. One of the bombs hit the Presbyterian church compound and wrecked the church building. No one was reported killed or wounded. Mindat, in southern Chin State, has faced repeated ground offensives, shelling and airstrikes since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup. Many residents have fled. On Oct.
12, at about 3:30 p.m., troops from the military’s 33rd and 88th Light Infantry Divisions burned down the Htingnan Kachin Baptist Church and the houses around it. The church stood in Shwe Pyi Tha Ward, part of a neighborhood known as Three Mile in Bhamo Township, also spelled Banmaw, in Kachin State.
"The destruction of the Presbyterian church in Mindat and the Htingnan Kachin Baptist Church in Banmaw are clear violations of international humanitarian law and freedom of religion or belief," CSW Founder President Mervyn Thomas said in a statement. "Targeting and destroying places of worship that serve as spiritual and community lifelines for vulnerable populations is a grave crime." Col.
Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an armed resistance group in Christian-majority Kachin State, told The Irrawaddy that soldiers set fire to a church in Three Mile Village, on the road to Momauk. He said clashes had broken out in the area from time to time.