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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Lorcan Lovett in Falam, Chin State

‘I stopped counting after three’: the ‘girl sniper’ fighting on the frontline of Myanmar’s civil war

A young woman and man in military uniforms standing among trees and shrubs
Anina (left), a sniper with the Chin National Defence Force, with her boyfriend and fellow sniper, Vak Vei, 20, near the frontline in Falam, Chin State, Myanmar, 4 January. Photograph: Valeria Mongelli/The Guardian

Anina is, in many ways, a typical teenager. She loves her boyfriend, cartoons and football – she supports Manchester City. Until recently, TikTok dancing brightened her days. “Any kind of dancing,” she says.

When the Guardian met her she was about to turn 18 and was on crutches, her ankle twisted during a scramble to escape a Myanmar military airstrike. A soldier of the Chin militia, the four years of civil war against the ruling junta have consumed much of Anina’s adolescence.

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