The Burma Army (BA) abducted 20 civilians, including three women, during fighting with the Indaw People’s Defence Force (PDF), forcing them to serve as human shields after hundreds of junta troops from two columns were deployed as part of a clearance campaign to remove resistance forces from Indaw Township.
According to a PDF officer who declined to give his name, on 24 September, 280 junta soldiers were deployed from Mohnyin town and 120 from Sagaing Region.
Resistance fighters reportedly killed six BA soldiers over two days.
On Saturday, three from the Mohnyin column died after stepping on hidden landmines planted by the PDF between Na Bar and Mawlu villages in Kachin State, locals told KNG. The wounded soldiers were sent back to the town by car, according to the PDF officer.
On Sunday, the group fired on the BA column from Sagaing, killing two of their soldiers on the spot while one died on the way to hospital, he said.
The Mohnyin column abducted the 20 civilians from their farms and a gold mine in Ouk Taw, Awng Kon and Tonne Taw on Monday, and stayed in Ouk Taw, arriving in Awng Kon the next day.
