After a gunfight with the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) in Pongwoe Village Tract, Kyaukme Township, Shan State, junta troops arrested, beat, and interrogated villagers from nearby villages.

On the afternoon of March 10, a skirmish between the junta and the SSPP/SSA broke out in Pongwoe Village Tract and lasted for more than an hour.

At around 5:30 p.m. the same day, junta troops entered Pongwoe Village and ordered residents to gather at the village monastery. They then beat and interrogated several villagers. While most were later released, five men remained in detention, according to locals.

“The soldiers took at least 10 people to the monastery. Now everyone has been released except five. The situation in the village is chaotic. The village had planned to hold a novitiation ceremony, but it has been postponed because of the fighting,” said a woman from Pongwoe Village.

Troops from Light Infantry Battalion 506 (LIB 506), based in Namlan Town, Shan State, arrived in Pongwoe Village in unmarked vehicles and forced villagers to gather inside the monastery. While the villagers were being interrogated there, some soldiers entered empty houses and searched them.

Inside the monastery, junta troops brutally interrogated villagers, and some suffered slash wounds on their backs during the process, the SSPP/SSA said.

Military tensions between the junta and the SSPP/SSA in Pongwoe Village Tract remain high following the March 10 confrontation. Fearing further clashes, villagers have postponed the novitiation ceremony originally scheduled for March 14–16 to a later date.