The military council has abducted about 20 people as human shields in Indawgyi area of Mohnyin District in Kachin State, locals reported.
The regime’s soldiers reportedly abducted some of those who were mining gold in Mongnawng village in Indawgyi area.
“They abducted about 20 people. The regime troops were advancing from Taung Pat Lann (circular hillside path) to Tinkauk Creek. U Myo Hlaing, a local gold trader who was also on his way to the mining area and had three young men with him to help him carry his machines, accidentally bumped into the military council troops and was abducted as a human shield,” locals said.
The locals were arrested at around 8 am on 11 January by a junta column of about 100 soldiers advancing toward Taung Pat Lann, Tinkauk Creek and Myay Ni Gone near Mongnawng village.
The military column, under Division 33, abducted people looking for firewood, day laborers from Shwe Hmaw Myar and four young men who were on their way to lift machinery onto a gold mining raft as human shields, according to a local resident.
“They also forcefully took gold mining day laborers who were coming from the forest and those who were on their way back from collecting firewood. All the people they took and the junta soldiers live in the two houses on the outskirts of Mongnawng village on the edge of the forest.”
On 11 January, the day the civilians were abducted, military council troops also fired about 10 artillery shells into the edge of the forest near Mongnawng village at around 2 pm, villagers said.
They further said that they were concerned about the ongoing artillery shelling and that the lives of those arrested could be in danger.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Kachin People’s Defense Force (KPDF) are present in the Indawgyi area in addition to military council troops, and clashes are frequent between the two sides.
Sent by NMG.