Myanmar junta troops have detained 30 people and are using them as human shields in Mandalay Region’s Mattara Township.

On 13 March a junta army column torched the villages of Mwe Kuu Tot, Mwe Taline Thar, Mwe Hintha and Mwe Pathein in the western part of Mattara Township.

A Mwe Taline Thar villager said: "The Army keeps rampaging through the villages. It has been going on for days. Every village they enter has been destroyed and torched. At least three or four houses in each village have been torched.”

At around 1:00 p.m. on 13 March, the Unicorn Guerrilla Force and its allies carried out a drone attack on the junta military column as it was returning from torching the villages and killed at least seven junta soldiers.

Following that attack, the junta soldiers detained more than 30 people from various villages in the western part of Mattara Township and, at the time of reporting, were holding them all hostage in Wal Su Village monastery, in Mattara Township.

“The locals were detained without cause. They even beat people and yelled abusive words”, said a villager from Mwe Kuu Tot.

The 30 arrested locals have also been used as human shields by the junta military column as it continues entering areas of western Mattara Township, according to the Unicorn Guerrilla Force.

Previously, on 11 and 12 March the same junta army column was bombed from drones and attacked with landmines, according to the Viper Guerrilla Force.