Locals reported that the junta columns currently operating in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, are largely composed of newly conscripted young soldiers.
The junta began deploying these columns in Katha Township in April. The units are largely composed of young men forcibly conscripted from the Yangon and Mandalay regions. Some of them were reportedly abducted while commuting between work and home before being sent to military training depots.
“One young soldier said he had worked at a car workshop in Mandalay before being conscripted. Another said he was also a conscript, abducted while on his way to work in Yangon. They said they and fellow conscripts received military training before being flown by helicopters to their assigned battalions,” a Katha resident said.
The young conscripts, moving with their columns through villages along the Ayeyarwady River in Katha Township, spoke with locals about what they had experienced.
Locals believe the young soldiers are among the reinforcements the junta recently airlifted by helicopter to Katha, the township’s administrative center.
Junta troops are currently positioned in villages along the Ayeyarwady River and continue to control the strategic Tigyaing–Katha Road.
“In the column currently in our village, there are quite a number of soldiers in their 20s. Only three or four are in their 30s, with a few older ones as well. Most of the troops are young—people in their 20s. I believe these young soldiers are conscripts,” said a local of an undisclosed village in the area.
The junta also instructed these columns to engage with local communities in an effort to improve public communication. Soldiers reportedly move around villages chatting with residents, renting motorbikes from locals, and promoting plans to establish village clinics.
Locals believe this may signal an attempt by the junta to reestablish its administrative machinery in Katha Township.
The tense military situation in Katha Township continues to loom, with some displaced residents returning to the town while others have evacuated to areas they consider safer.
Katha town, on the border of Kachin State and Sagaing Region, saw heavy clashes between junta forces and resistance groups beginning in December 2025. The junta responded with airstrikes and ground assaults, displacing many communities.
The junta enforced the conscription law in February 2024 and launched an aggressive campaign to recruit young men. Some military analysts estimated that, as of February 2026, it had recruited more than 90,000 new soldiers through around 20 conscription batches. The junta is reportedly conscripting an average of 5,000 new recruits per batch.
Human rights monitoring groups have warned of a sharp rise in cases of young people being forcibly recruited across the country—abducted on the streets and sent for military training, or taken while commuting to work and subsequently conscripted into military service.
