Myitkyina (Mizzima) – About 500 Burmese regime soldiers have been dispatched to the Putao area in northern Kachin State as reinforcements, according to local residents.
Residents said the troops belonged to Light Infantry Battalions No. 46 and 137 under the junta’s Northern Command.Meanwhile, sources said local residents were forced to provide labour to build new structures for military bases and to dig bunkers for the troops, stationed about 18 miles south of Putao. One family member per home was forced to work, sources said.
‘In this season, young people want to work in the gold mines. But, they were forced to work for the military’, said a resident in Washayang village.
Similarly, in late February, more than 200 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion No. 58 were sent to Waimaw in Kachin State.
Kachin sources said the junta reinforcements are designed to control the area and to pressure the Kachin Independence Organization, which has rejected the junta’s order to become a part of its Border Guard Force plan.
