Myanmar military forces have been detaining civilians and using them as human shields while conducting operations in northern Ywangan Township, where heavy reinforcements have been deployed amid ongoing clashes, according to local residents.

Since the final week of July, junta troops have intensified operations across the area, leading to repeated clashes with the Danu People’s Liberation Army (DPLA).

Following the fighting, military forces detained more than 10 local men from villages north of Ywangan town on August 2. According to an eyewitness, the detainees were forced to accompany frontline military columns before being taken to army encampments.

“When the military rounds up villagers, they don’t take them all from the same place; they split them up across different villages. From what I know, about 10 people have been sent to the front lines with the military columns. Every time they enter a village, there are more than 100 soldiers,” a local man told SHAN.

Residents said those taken by the military are being used as human shields to deter attacks by resistance forces. In some cases, detainees who could afford to pay were reportedly allowed to secure their release, prompting soldiers to arbitrarily detain other local men as replacements.

The continued presence of military columns and arbitrary arrests has left residents too fearful to tend their farms or seek daily wage work, according to a local woman.

“Lately, military columns come through all the time. We don’t even dare go to our plantations because we see soldiers everywhere in the forests. We worry that if we get caught, they’ll do something to us. With people being arrested over and over again, staying at home feels like living on edge—we can’t even sleep properly at night,” she said.

Residents fear that escalating tensions between junta forces and the DPLA could trigger heavier fighting, forcing civilians to exercise extreme caution when traveling.

On July 22, fierce fighting broke out between junta troops and the DPLA near Sin Sar Pyar Village in Kyaung Nghet Village Tract. Since then, residents say military forces have increasingly relied on large-scale troop deployments, arbitrary arrests, and the physical abuse of civilians.

Ywangan Township remains a contested area where multiple armed groups operate, including junta forces, the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia, the Pa-O National Organization (PNO), the Danu People’s Liberation Front/Army (DPLF/DPLA), and the Danu State Nationalities Defense Army (DSNDA).