Exclusive-Myanmar army defector recounts heavy losses inflicted by Chin rebels

Kaung Thu Win, who said he served as a captain in Myanmar's military before defecting in late December, shows a photograph of himself wearing an army uniform on his mobile phone, during an interview with Reuters at an undisclosed location in northeastern India, January 21, 2022. Picture taken January 21, 2022. REUTERS/Devjyot Ghoshal

A Myanmar army officer who defected and fled the country has detailed battlefield losses to rebels in the southern part of Chin state, with at least 50 soldiers killed and 200 badly wounded in 2021 by opposition fighters with homemade weapons.

Kaung Thu Win, a captain who defected in December, offered a rare first-hand account of intensified fighting in Chin, in Myanmar's northwest, where the military junta has faced some of the fiercest armed resistance since it seized power a year ago.