Aizawl: At least 151 Myanmar soldiers have crossed the Indian border and entered southernmost Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district on Friday following armed clashes with the Arakan Army (AA), an Assam Rifles officer said on Saturday.
The Myanmar army personnel, also known as the ‘Tatmadaw,’ fled with their arms and approached the Assam Rifles at Tuisentlang in Lawngtlai district after their camps near the international border were overrun by the AA, he said.
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The officer said that there had been intense gunfights between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army for the past few days in areas close to the Indian border.
He said that some of the personnel, who entered Mizoram on Friday, were critically injured and first aids were administered to them by the Assam Rifles.
The Myanmar army soldiers are now in the safe custody of Assam Rifles at Parva in Lawngtlai district near the Myanmar border, he said.
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The Myanmar soldiers will be evacuated to their country in some days as talks are going on between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Myanmar military government, he added.
Several military bases of the Myanmar army in Chin State fell to pro-democracy forces in 2022 as the National Unity Government of Myanmar in exile called for the overthrow of the military junta that staged a coup in February 2021.
In November, a total of 104 Myanmar soldiers fled to Mizoram after their military camps along the Myanmar-India border were overrun by pro-democracy militias- People’s Defence Force (PDF).
They were airlifted by the Indian Airforce to Moreh in Manipur, from where they crossed the international border and entered Tamu, the nearest border town in Myanmar.
The first batch of the Myanmarese soldiers numbering about 40 were airlifted from nearby Hnahlan village in Champhai district on November 14, while the last batch numbering 30 were airlifted from Tuipang in Siaha district on November 29.