Resistance forces rescue over 300 villagers detained as human shields in Nyaunglebin District

The People’s Defence Force (PDF) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) jointly rescued more than 300 villagers held as human shields by junta troops in several villages in Kyaukkyi Township, Nyaunglebin District, Bago Region.

The PDF, the armed wing of the resistance-run National Unity Government (NUG), and the KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), carried out the joint rescue mission, which cost the lives of resistance fighters, according to the NUG.

The NUG announced that 11 resistance fighters were martyred during the daring rescue operation, while at least 10 junta troops were killed and more than 20 wounded.

“Junta troops raided several villages in Kyaukkyi Township and arrested the locals. They took positions in villages such as Yaetwinkone and Kyaungkone on the west bank of the Sittaung River, where they held around 300 villagers as human shields,” said a spokesperson for Kyaukkyi Township Emergency Rescue Committee.

On March 5, about 400 troops in four columns led by the junta’s Light Infantry Division 77 (LID 77) entered Nyaunglebin District and raided the villages of Kyaungkone, Yaetwinkone, and Khayukone. The junta used airstrikes and drone attacks to support its ground advance.

During the raids, regime soldiers held more than 300 civilians hostage and used them as human shields, while brutally torturing and killing more than 40 civilians, including three children and a pregnant woman.

On March 7, some villagers managed to escape on their own. On March 8, Bago District PDF Battalion 2 and allied groups rescued about 150 people. On March 10, the NUG announced that all 300 people who had been detained as human shields by the junta had been successfully rescued.

The rescue mission was jointly carried out by battalions and units under the NUG’s Bago Region Military Operations Command and KNLA Brigade 3.

More than 300 people who escaped have been evacuated to safety, according to the NUG.

Rescue workers on the ground said the junta routinely uses local people as human shields when it faces setbacks or crises on the battlefield to instill fear in local communities, and that the incident in Nyaunglebin District clearly reflects the regime’s pattern of war crimes.