Junta using residents to fight AA in Thandwe

By Admin 04 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
4 May 2024, Thandwe

The military regime is using locals whom it has forcibly conscripted to fight the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, according to residents.

The regime and the AA have been fighting near the Tha Htay Chaung hydropower dam project in Thandwe Township since April 26.

One resident from Nan Chaung Village said: “It [the regime] has forcibly taken residents from Thandwe town and nearby villages for military training. They were then forced to fight. Some have died in the fighting, and some have fled.”

The regime enforced the conscription law on February 10 amid a string of heavy military defeats and a severe shortage of personnel.

It conscripted Thandwe residents and forced them to undergo military training at the 55th Light Infantry Battalion in February and March. Conscripts were then sent to the front line and checkpoints.

Junta-appointed Arakan State chief minister U Htein Lin went to Thandwe town on April 9, before the fighting, and persuaded residents to enlist.

“Locals were only given two weeks of military training before they were sent to the front line. Some were sent to guard checkpoints in the town. The regime imposes tight checks in the town,” said a Thandwe resident.

Junta troops and the AA also clashed in Thandwe Township on Saturday. Fighting has been raging in Arakan State since November.