A military source from Naypyidaw has revealed that families have not yet been notified about the deaths of hundreds of new military recruits who were killed in battles, including those in Pantaung Township, Bago Region and Banmaw Township, Kachin State. Since early February until late March, the military council has deployed thousands of new recruits to frontline battlefields across the country, with hundreds of casualties reported among these newly enlisted soldiers.
According to recent telegraph reports, more than 300 new recruits have been confirmed dead, but the military has suspended notifications to their respective families about these casualties. The source indicated that it remains unclear when the death notices will be delivered to the families. The casualty figures come from telegraph reports submitted by various military units, with official notifications being currently prohibited by military command. While some families may have learned about the deaths through informal channels, the military has temporarily suspended official death notifications for families who do not reside in military compounds.
The delay in notifying families about the deaths of new recruits appears to be motivated by concerns over future recruitment difficulties and an attempt to prevent the spread of information about the high casualty rates among new soldiers within communities, according to the military source. In the battle at Nyaung Kyo Camp in Bago Region, where new recruits were primarily deployed, at least 120 soldiers were killed, according to Nan Lin Thu, a former recruit from Training Batch 6 who escaped and defected to revolutionary forces. The high casualty rates among new recruits and the military’s decision to withhold death notifications highlight the increasingly difficult situation faced by the military council in maintaining its forces while continuing its operations against resistance forces across the country.
