Chin Local Hit with Pistol by Army Soldier in Thantlang
10 November 2012: Mr. Thawng Bik Ceu, in his late twenties, suffers from severe injuries after he was beaten up with a pistol by a Burmese soldier in Thantlang town, Chin State on 8 November 2012.
The soldier, whose name and rank cannot be confirmed, ordered a Chin father of three children to stop walking and hit four times with his pistol for no reasons while on his way off the town to lay mouse traps.
“He was taken to hospital and had his forehead stitched on two places. His face is still swollen and he is lying on bed,” Ms Sung, a family friend who visited the victim, told Chinland Guardian.
Thawng Bik Ceu said the soldier shouted at him to stop, sit down and stand up on the road just outside Thantlang and that he struck on his face and head with the pistol, according to Ms Sung.
“It was around 2:30pm and Thawng Bik Ceu was carrying his mouse traps on his shoulder when the soldier passed by near a place called Hangbo in the north of the town,” added Ms Sung.
Bleeding from injuries, Thawng Bik Ceu managed to scurry while the soldier was throwing his mouse traps away, Ms Sung added.
“We heard that the soldier has been detained somewhere as he lost the pistol which belongs to his boss.”
The Burmese soldier, who is believed to a cook at the military barracks in Thantlang, ordered about 10 residents living close to the location of the incident to look for the pistol in the morning yesterday, according to a source from Thantlang.
It is claimed that the soldier was still detained as a form of punishment for a while even though the pistol was later found yesterday.
No official action has been taken against the Burmese soldier who committed such physical assaults in an unprovoked attack on Mr. Thawng Bik Ceu, son of Pu Sang Tlir.
Recently, another incident was reported near Kuhchah village of Thantlang Township, where some locals working on the roads were severely beaten up by four Burma Army soldiers for no obvious reasons.
Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang
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