BANGKOK -- As they flee across the mountainous terrain along Myanmar's northwestern border into India, refugees from the Chin ethnic minority bring stories of shelled towns and torched houses, the result of the Myanmar military's growing onslaught.
The accounts from Thantlang, one of the main towns in Myanmar's Chin State, are more searing than the rest. It was there that Cung Biak Hum, a 31-year-old Baptist pastor, was reportedly shot in September by advancing government troops as he had attempted to douse the flames in a shelled neighborhood. Soldiers then proceeded to "cut off his finger and steal his wedding ring," according to the Chin Human Rights Organization.