The TBH Desk
As many as 151 Myanmar soldiers fled to Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district after their camps in the neighbouring country were overrun by an armed ethnic group, news agency PTI reported citing an Assam Rifles officer said on Saturday.
The Myanmarese Army personnel, also known as the ‘Tatmadaw’, fled with their arms and approached the Assam Rifles at Tuisentlang in Lawngtlai district on Friday after their camps near the international border were overrun by the Arakan Army fighters.
The officer added that there had been intense gunfights between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army fighters for the past few days in areas close to the Indian border.
He said that some of the Myanmar Army personnel, who entered Mizoram on Friday, were critically injured and first aids were administered to them by the Assam Rifles. The officer said the Myanmar soldiers are now in the safe custody of Assam Rifles at Parva in Lawngtlai district near the Myanmar border.
The Myanmar soldiers will be sent back to their country in some days as talks are going on between the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and the Myanmar military government, the officer said.
In November, a total of 104 Myanmar soldiers fled to Mizoram after their military camps along the Myanmar-India border were overrun by pro-democracy militia – People’s Defence Force (PDF).
They were airlifted by the Indian Airforce to Moreh in Manipur, from where they crossed the international border and entered Tamu, the nearest border town in Myanmar.
The Print reported that the 151 Myanmar Army personnel who fled their camp crossed the international border at pillars number 2 and 4, to reach Tuisentlang. More Tatmadaw members are likely to reach the border village, it reported.
Fighting has been raging in the northern part of Shan state since the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive on October 27. A little more than two weeks later, the Arakan Army also attacked outposts in its home state of Rakhine in the west.
The offensive of the well-trained and well-armed ethnic militias has been seen as a significant challenge for the army, which has struggled to contain a nationwide uprising by members of the People’s Defence Forces, a pro-democracy armed group established after the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The alliance has claimed widespread victories including the capture of four border crossings in the northern part of Shan state. Soon after the fighting began, the military government acknowledged that it had lost three towns and vowed counterattacks on the alliance.