Aung Kaung Zaw — Two residents of Padar village in Arakan State’s Taungup Township were arrested by security personnel on October 1, family members of the detainees said.

An eight-member security squad together with the local village administrator took the two men — identified as Maung Shwe Kyee aka Min Hsan Mon, 24, and U Nyi Maung Chay, 31 — from their homes on Thursday morning and beat a villager in his 50s named U Ngalone Khaing, according to Daw Yi Yi Thein, the wife of U Nyi Maung Chay.

“I don’t know where they were taken. U Ngalone Khaing, the brother-in-law of the village administrator, wasn’t arrested but he was beaten with gunstocks. I am worried that my husband will be tortured by security members,” she added.

U Nyi Maung Chay has two children while Maung Shwe Kyee has a 4-year-old, according to locals.

Some people have fled their homes as the Tatmadaw said it would arrest about 20 residents in the village, locals said.

DMG phoned Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team seeking comment on the arrest of the two villagers, but he could not be reached.

There have been frequent clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Arakan State, but minimal fighting in the townships of the state’s south, which includes Taungup.

But arrests by the Tatmadaw on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army have been reported across Arakan State.

The number of people detained by the Tatmadaw on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army from July to September 2020 rose by at least 40, according to a DMG tally.