The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) has continued its recruitment campaign in northern Shan State, with soldiers abducting more civilians from several villages in Muse Township.

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A local said the armed group abducted four people from Kawng Weing and Nam Oum. “They opened fire when they entered the village yesterday and came back today firing their guns,” he told SHAN on the day of the incident in the villages in Nam Oum village tract.

“They told us they would recruit new soldiers from the villages and gave us five days to prepare. They said two people from every ten families must serve in the SSPP/SSA,” the source said. They will undergo a month’s training, after which they can return to their family for a short time, but will have to serve in the armed group for the rest of their lives, he said.

On 6 June, Shan soldiers also showed up with guns blazing in Teing Lung, but SHAN couldn’t determine how many people were abducted by the armed group.

To escape being taken away, many villagers in Muse and Nam Kham townships have fled to the larger towns sometimes controlled by the military regime.

“Some people from Nam Oum have fled to Muse town after the SSPP/SSA soldiers said they would recruit new soldiers from Muse, Nam Kham and Pang Hseng townships,” another anonymous source told SHAN.

The armed group also abducted people from Namlan town in Hsipaw Township in the middle of the night.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ally of the SSPP/SSA, is known for abducting civilians as soldiers and actively collecting money from residents of Nam Kham town for ‘taxes’.