Two people from Mrauk-U’s Ywar Haung Daw village were taken by a military troop on Saturday morning, family members said.

The military troop took U Tun Kyaw Thein, 46, and U San Aung Thein, 45, while they were returning home after transplanting paddy.

“The military column was marching in the village. We heard the sound of gunfire. Our husbands met with soldiers and were arrested,” said Daw Aye Nyunt, wife of U Tun Kyaw Thein.

They were arrested outside the village and they have not arrived home yet, she added.

 “We are worried that soldiers would beat them,” she said.

Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Western Command, however, denied that soldiers took two villagers.

The fighting between the Tatmadaw and the AA in northern Arakan State has been waging for roughly nine months and the number of detained villagers has reached into the hundreds.