Nearly 300 soldiers from the Burmese junta crossed the border with India to flee the advance of rebel forces who are fighting the military in power in Burma, an Indian paramilitary officer told AFP on Friday January 19.
Armed clashes have raged in some Burmese regions adjoining the Indian border (west) since the Arakan Army (AA) launched a major operation against security forces in November, inflicting setbacks on the army regularly in power since a coup in 2021.
This offensive ended a ceasefire widely respected in this region since the putsch.
The AA said on Sunday it had captured the town of Paletwa in Chin State, about 20 kilometers from the border with Bangladesh, and six military bases along the border of the Indian state of Mizoram, that the soldiers had crossed on Wednesday.
"Support"
A total of 276 soldiers carrying their weapons and ammunition arrived at the village of Bondukbangsora, an officer of the paramilitary force Assam Rifles, who refused to give his name, told AFP.
“
We accommodated them in our camp
,” he said, adding that arriving soldiers receive “
all the support they need
.”
The officer said his unit was collecting soldiers' biometric data and had asked the Defense Ministry in New Delhi for permission to send them back to Myanmar.
Two Myanmar military planes have arrived in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state, to collect and repatriate soldiers who have withdrawn from the conflict.
In October, an alliance between the AA and two other ethnic minority groups launched a joint offensive against the junta in Shan State, capturing towns and seizing vital trading centers on the Chinese (northern) border.
Last week, the alliance announced a Chinese-led ceasefire in the region, after months of conflict that posed the biggest threat to the junta since it took power.