The spokesperson for CDF-Asho, Salai Ro Ching, has announced the capture of 23 military council soldiers who fled from the Nat Ye Kan Air Defense Base in Ngape Township, Magway Region, along with their weapons. The arrests took place between June 8 and 12, when revolutionary forces conducting operations within a 1,500-meter perimeter of the air defense base along the old Nat Ye Kan road discovered and apprehended the fleeing soldiers during a clearing operation.
According to information obtained from the prisoners of war, the personnel at the air defense strategic hill included both people’s militia and former soldiers who were facing significant challenges due to food shortages and lack of support from cooking staff to forward military columns. Military council leadership has been forcing people’s militia and lower-ranking soldiers into frontline positions where they face direct enemy contact, compelling them to fight to the death. The captured soldiers revealed that they were being forced to serve without understanding what benefits or political objectives they were fighting for, indicating serious human rights violations in their deployment.
The captured military council soldiers were found in possession of five MA-1 rifles, three MA-3 rifles, and various ammunition, which were subsequently seized. It was revealed that these prisoners of war were individuals who had been forcibly conscripted under the mandatory military service law and were serving against their will as porters. The CDF-Asho spokesperson further stated that soldiers currently stationed at and around the Nat Ye Kan strategic hill have the option to either surrender and defect or continue fighting to their death according to their own choice.
