There was a gunfight amongst Burmese Army soldiers in the Tibual based military camp LIB 269 on August 2 in Falam township, northern Chin state Burma.

A report said that gunfire was heard between 1 pm to 3 pm. A duty commander at the camp shot at the patrolling sub-commander Thein Thaih and his group.

“The commander and sub-commander had an argument over sharing bribe collected from traders. The gunfight lasted about three hours,” a local said.

However, no one died in the gun battle. Most soldiers were patrolling the village and only the commander was left at the camp. He took advantage of this and shot the sub-commander. After the firing he ran away with arms and one soldier, but there is no information on how many arms he took with him.

“We heard the gunfire after we finished attending church. The patrolling soldiers also ran out of the houses and started to fire at the camp. Now, the villagers are afraid to go out from their houses. Fortunately no one was hurt in the gunfire,” said an eyewitness.

There are about 15 soldiers in Tibual based military camp. But it is very difficult to communicate with the Tibual police station regarding the gunfire.

Similarly, there was gunfire in the Lailenpi based military camp in July 2009. A commander died on the spot.

The Burmese Army soldiers are taking excessive tax from traders. Sometimes they take their domestic animals if they cannot pay the tax.