During a junta column’s advance through several villages in Tanintharyi Township, more than 30 residents were captured and used as human shields.

On the morning of October 3, a column of about 100 junta troops entered several villages located across the river from Kanto Village. When they withdrew, they forcibly took 33 locals and two ferry boatmen with them.

“The abducted people still haven’t been released. The junta troops also took some boatmen. Soldiers forced locals to go with them as human shields. Now, the number of displaced people is rising every day, it’s reached around 1,300. Some had to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” a local aid worker helping the displaced people told KIC.

Residents of Sione, Nyaungbingon, Yanhpo, and Banlamut, villages entered by the junta column and located across the river from Kanto, are fleeing in whole communities, fearing further abductions by the junta.

Following the junta column’s operation in the area, clashes broke out with local resistance forces, resulting in casualties among the junta troops and the death of one resistance fighter.

“In recent days, the junta’s artillery battalion has been frequently shelling the surrounding areas. We understand that some of its troops have been killed or injured in clashes, but the details are still under investigation,” a resistance fighter said.

After the fighting around Kanto Village, the junta’s Artillery Battalion 306, based in Mawtone Village, Tanintharyi Township, has been frequently shelling the surrounding areas, according to locals.

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