In an unthinkable scene, a 16-year-old boy lost a foot after stepping on a landmine planted next to a church in a Karenni village in Burma. Placed there by the Burma military after they burned a Christian church, the violence is the latest in a string of civilian villages that have been pummeled by relentless attacks.
Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a Christian relief organization founded by former U.S. Army Special Forces and Ranger officer Dave Eubank, focuses on helping “oppressed ethnic minorities” in war zones. In a recent update, FBR described the horrifying and all-too-common scene.
“The boy screamed in agony as the landmine exploded, ripping his foot off. Behind him, the church burned,” the update reads. “What was once a peaceful Karenni village has now been torn apart by the marauding Burma Army. Troops from Division 66 have been attacking this village all week. The villagers are hiding in the mountains behind the village and we have come to know them well over the last several days. Each day they pray their village is not burned.”
Burma, also referred to as Myanmar, suffered a coup back in February of 2021. The military seized control on Feb. 1, 2021, after a general election which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide. Military leaders claimed widespread election fraud and demanded a re-vote.
“The Burma Army has been burning villages and killing villagers at a speed and a force we have not seen before,” FBR said. The latest attack happened in the village of Daw Nye Ku and caused all the villagers to flee. A brand new church was burned by the army in the attack and, insidiously, they planted landmines all around the church and village so that when villagers returned, they would be severely wounded or killed.
Eubank himself narrowly avoided one.
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