Aizawl: An American journalist, who was injured in a landmine blast in northern Chin state’s Tedim Township recently, is recuperating at the private-run Ebenezer Hospital in Aizawl, hospital sources said on Friday.Collin Mayfield was brought to the hospital on Monday and has to be operated. Doctors said his wounds are not life-threatening as of now, but it will take time for full recovery. “His two toes were blown away by the blast, but he is now out of danger,” the sources said.Reports from Tedim Township said the journalist was injured in a landmine explosion on Nov 18 while covering the battle between the Myanmar Army and the People’s Defence Force (PDF)-Zoland near the 2,703-metre Kennedy Peak within Tedim Township, where he was with PDF-Zoland combatants. Mayfield could not be transported to the Aizawl hospital immediately because of intense fighting in the area, and he was with the PDF-Zoland fighters in their camps.There have been reports that Myanmar warplanes attacked Taingen and Bekang villages with jet fighters and Y-12 aircraft on Nov 23. Two villagers from Bekang were killed in the jungle near the village by a landmine blast on Tuesday.The Myanmar Army has intensified attacks in northern Chin state ahead of the first phase of election scheduled to be held on Dec 28.
