Human Shields

Junta army uses infants as human shields in Wetlet Township

Regime forces took four small children and over a dozen local adults hostage while raiding a village on the way back to their base in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning.  In the early morning on Tuesday, the column of junta troops entered Wet Let Ywei village, located some four miles southeast of Wetlet and a mile east of the Mandalay-Myitkyina railway, taking two infants, two toddlers, six women and seven men captive.  The junta soldiers kept the hostages with them as they proceeded south to their base in the village of Thar Laing, Wetlet Township, releasing them when they arrived.  “They were captured at around 4am and were let go around noon,” a spokesperson for the Wetlet Township People’s Defence Group said. Six of the adult hostages were in their 30s, and six were in their 60s, and another was of middle age.  “They were caught without warning and didn’t have the chance to run, as it was very early in the morning. They even took the babies hostage,” a Wet Let Ywei resident said. Although the soldiers did not harm the children, they shouted at the adults and subjected them to questioning, he added. Map of Wetlet…