A Myanmar family flees to India with no plans to return soon

For more than a decade, Mah Tial said she ran a small store in Thantlang, a town in northwest Myanmar, making enough money to send her four children to school and see her eldest daughter secure a coveted government job.

On September 8, the 51-year-old said her peaceful life in the hilltop settlement ended suddenly when Myanmar's military attacked and burned down houses, forcing the family to flee and shelter in neighbouring India's Mizoram state.

Along with her husband, children, parents and an aunt, Mah Tial now lives in a shack made of corrugated metal sheets and wood clinging to a mountainside in Mizoram's Farkawn village.

"I don't think about going back to Myanmar soon, because the condition inside the country is getting worse," she said.

Myanmar was plunged into crisis when the military ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering protests and conflict in the countryside between anti-junta militia and the army.

Located in Myanmar's Chin state, where an armed rebellion has taken hold, Thantlang has seen repeated attacks by the military, also known as the Tatmadaw, since early September, according to three former residents and a rights group.

Myanmar's military spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on recent events in Thantlang. The military has previously blamed insurgents for instigating fighting and burning homes there, and brands them terrorists.

Mah Tial's family is among what a Mizoram lawmaker estimated were around 15,000 Myanmar nationals sheltering in the state.

Several days a week, she and her three daughters sit at Farkawn's main crossroads selling plastic slippers, cosmetics and diapers - goods ordered for her shop at home that she managed to bring into India.