The junta forced 20 villagers to walk in front of their soldiers to repel attacks by civilian resistance groups in Pekon (Paikhun)Township, southern Shan State.

”The soldiers tied their hands behind their backs with rope,” a local source told SHAN, and blindfolded them.

The army abducted the civilians, including some elderly people, when soldiers raided Shwe Pyi Aye on Thursday 28 October.

Another man explained that the elderly and several others didn’t flee the village before the raid as others had done, although none of them had any links to the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which is fighting with the Burma Army (BA) in the area. “The soldiers are very brutal,” he said.

According to local reports, during the raid, the BA stole money and other items from the houses and abducted everyone left in the village.

During the offensives in southern Shan State, junta forces have committed many war crimes by indiscriminately attacking villages and using civilians as human shields during the conflict  against resistance groups.

On Thursday in northern Shan State, BA fought with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army (AA). The next day, 100 junta forces were deployed next to the ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) near Huay Hok, Mong Yaw village tract.

A man who didn’t want his name published told SHAN that fighting would continue as EAOs were still on the mountain and 60 BA soldiers were camped near the Mang Pan PMF camp.

During the clashes, two BA soldiers were shot and one of them is in a critical condition, another source told SHAN. Both of these soldiers were staying near the PMF camp.

On the same day the junta sent reinforcements, there was an explosion at the police station in Mong Yaw village.

In addition to the other armed groups, the Shan State Progress Party also maintains soldiers in the village tract.