More than 2,000 people fleeing Myanmar have crossed into neighboring northeastern India as an offensive against the military widens, Indian media reported Tuesday.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported more than 2,000 Myanmar citizens from western Chin state had crossed into India's Mizoram state since Monday, with at least 17 people taken to hospital for their wounds.
Almost 50,000 people have been displaced by fighting in northern Myanmar after an alliance of ethnic armed groups launched an offensive against the junta two weeks ago, according to the United Nations.
The PTI, quoting government statistics, said Mizoram was already home to more than 30,000 Myanmar nationals.
Anti-junta fighters in Chin state are fighting to gain control of part of a porous border with India, after tasting early success with the takeover of two military outposts on the remote mountainous frontier, a senior rebel commander said.
Dozens of rebels battled the Myanmar military from dawn to dusk earlier Monday to overrun two camps abutting India's Mizoram state, as part of a widening offensive against the junta, Chin National Front (CNF) Vice Chairman Sui Khar said.
Spokespersons for Myanmar's military and India's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Myanmar's generals are facing their biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October, capturing some towns and military posts.
The offensive, named by rebels as "Operation 1027" after the date it began, initially made inroads in junta-controlled areas on the border with China in Shan State, where military authorities have lost control of several towns and over 100 security outposts.
"We are continuing our attacks in northern Shan State," said Kyaw Naing, a spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which is part of the operation.
Fighting also erupted on two new fronts this week, in the western states of Rakhine and Chin, which sent thousands of people fleeing to Mizoram.
About 80 rebels mounted attacks on Rihkhawdar and Khawmawi military camps in Chin at around 4 a.m. on Monday, eventually taking control of both outposts after several hours of fighting, Sui Khar said.
Following the battle, 43 Myanmar soldiers surrendered to Indian police and were sheltering in Mizoram, local police official Lalmalsawma Hnamte said.
