Minors among Myanmar military prisoners of war taken by Kachin Independence Army

Prisoners of war, including regime troops and their family members, detained from Myanmar Navy vessels by the Kachin Independence Army in Shwegu Township, Kachin State, on Sept. 2. (Credit: KIA)

Sources close to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) told DVB on Friday that an unknown number of minors are among the 151 Myanmar military personnel detained as prisoners of war in Shwegu Township, Kachin State, on Sept. 2.

The KIA stated on Sept. 10 that 151 military personnel, including 118 soldiers, were taken as prisoners of war from seven out of 14 Myanmar Navy vessels along the Irrawaddy River in Kachin’s Shwegu on Sept. 2.

It added that 34 of the 118 soldiers were aged 16-30, who were “forcibly” recruited under the military conscription law, without disclosing the exact number of minors.

A source inside the KIA told DVB on the condition of anonymity that at least 80 per cent of the 800 military personnel transported by 14 Myanmar Navy vessels to Kachin’s Bhamo Township on Sept. 3 were conscripted into the military under the regime’s conscription law, enforced on Feb. 10, 2024.

Known officially as “People’s Military Service Law,” the conscription law requires both males aged 18-35 and females aged 18-27 to serve up to two years, while specialists like doctors aged up to 45 must serve for three years.

Only six out of 14 naval vessels that left the Gaw Wein jetty in Mandalay Region on Aug. 21 arrived in Bhamo on Sept. 3, according to the KIA. Shwegu, 64 miles (103 km) west of Bhamo, is located 119-181 miles (191-291 km) southwest of the KIA headquarters at Laiza and south of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina.