The junta has arrested six people in Paikhun (aka Pekon) Township, accusing them of belonging to a civilian resistance group in southern Shan State.

The soldiers abducted two brothers who were on their way to a motorcycle repair shop in Toe Chelt Ward around noon on 8 November. The armed forces searched the youths’ house and arrested another youth in the house.

A local source said he heard that a photo of the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) was found when the youths’ phone was checked, but SHAN could not confirm this information with secondary sources. The same source said the soldiers forced some of the youths to put on a PDF uniform.

Another man said the military threatened the boys’ father when they stormed their house.

“The father told the army that his sons have no connection with PDF and that they were farmers and have nothing to do with any organisations. The soldiers then threatened him saying: Do you want to die? If you do not want to die, then shut up,” the man told SHAN.

At midnight, the army returned to the house to arrest the father. They also arrested two minors, aged 16 and 17, who lived next door, although their parents were not at home. “The soldiers accused the father of possessing a weapon,” says the source.

“No one knows where they held them and we have not received any information. Their families are very worried that they are being tortured in a detention camp,” says a man close to the family.

According to the community, all those arrested are ordinary farmers.

Fighting between the Burma Army and the PDFs in Paikhun Township has been going on daily for over a week.