Villagers have complained of patrolling troops under the Military Council attacking them in Ywangan Township, Shan State.

“Burma army soldiers beat me on my back with the butt of their gun when I was picking up leaves in my tea-leaf farm,” said a local man who wished to remain anonymous. The incident left him needing two stitches.

According to a local news source, there have been 50 soldiers patrolling eastern Ywangan Township since June 7 after a villager reported that a People’s Defence Force (PDF) was active in the jungles around the many tea plantations. The same day, soldiers reportedly beat up five villagers, all of whom required medical treatment for their injuries.

A local woman who also asked to remain anonymous said that after the headman of her village resigned from his post, regime soldiers and the Pyusawhtee People’s Militia Force (PMF) under the Military Council have been frequenting the area to question locals.

“At this time, the Pyusawhtee PMF are doing whatever they like in the village,” she said, explaining that they and Burma army soldiers often detain and beat people. They’re terrified that if they go to their farms, they’ll be accused of maintaining connections with the PDF.

Soldiers are staying in some of the villages and pressuring residents of draft age to join their ranks after the Military Council as part of its national conscription law.