A local resident from Rathedaung Township was taken by a military troop as a guide on 21 August, and he has not returned home yet, villagers said.

 

Ko Aung San, 27, from Chut Pyin village was taken by a Tatmadaw troop while he was catching crickets at a place two miles from his village, said an anonymous villager.

 

“He was taken on the way to his home. He phoned his family at about 5p.m. and said that he would guide the Tatmadaw troop. He left his tools used for catching crickets,” the villager said.

 

His family members are concerned about him because he has not returned home after three days, the family reported his disappearance to the Zedi Pyin police station.

 

The DMG phoned Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Western Command, regarding the man’s situation, but he could not be reached.

 

The Tatmadaw previously took villagers as guides for them. On 6 August, two officials from Kyauktaw Township’s Khapaw village administration department were abducted, leaders of households, U Hla Aung, 35 and U Thaw Kyar Aung, 51, were taken by a Tatmadaw troop to guide them to Marlar village, over a mile from Khapaw village.

 

They stepped on a landmine in a mountain pass, the head of hundred households, U Hla Aung was killed and the leader of ten households, U Thaw Kyar Aung received serious injury, according to their families

 

Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Western Command, however, told the DMG that the two villagers were not taken by Tatmadaw troops and that they stepped on landmines while they were going around in the forest.