Burmese government soldiers travelling along Pangsai (Kyukoke)-Mungkoe road in Northern Shan State often arrested and took local villagers as porters and used them as human minesweepers. “They do not deliberately enter into villages and arrest villagers but they arrest those who are working at their fields near the villages located along their way,” said a Mungkoe resident. On July 1, about 25 local villagers from Yihku, Hkalen and Dung-aw villages have been arrested and taken as porters by soldiers from 123^rd LIB and 242^nd LIB and those villagers were reportedly detained at Pangsai police station. A villager who was a porter said, “Burmese soldiers force us to walk in front of them in a group of 10 to 20 to clear mines, sometimes they don’t even ask us to carry a thing just ask us to walk in front of them, we are used as mine detectors”.

Fighting has been raging throughout the Kachinland in recent weeks despite calls to halt offensive by Burmese government’s President Thein Sein.

A fighting took place between KIA’s 38^th Battalion under 4th Brigade and Burmese army’s 241^st LIB at Yihku village in Northern Shan State’s Pang Sai area on July 1 at 10 am. On the same day, another battle took place in KIA’s 5^th Brigade area near Laiza when KIA’s capital security forces met Burmese army’s 388^th LIR under MOC -3 on the way between Man Mau village and Na Lung village. No known number of casualties was reported.

On June 30, a fierce battle took place between KIA’s 5^th Brigade soldiers and advancing Burmese soldiers from unknown unit when two sides met around 7 am in the morning at U Htang Yang village. In a similar encounter, a fierce fighting took place when a KIA’s mobile battalion met Burmese army’s 389^th LIR near Ja Pu village on June 30 at 10:30 am.