151 fleeing Myanmar soldiers flown home after refugee stay in Mizoram
Mizoram after their camps were captured were flown back home on a Myanmar military aircraft on Tuesday.
Officials said that a Myanmar Air Force aircraft landed at the Lengpui airport here on Tuesday afternoon to take back the soldiers.
«A Myanmar Air Force transport plane from Mandalay (Myanmar) landed at Lengpui airport and evacuated 151 Myanmar soldiers to Akyab in two sorties. Before the departure of the Myanmarese soldiers, the Indian authorities have completed all necessary formalities,» a senior official said.
According to officials, the Myanmar soldiers on Friday fled to Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district with their arms and ammunition, and approached the Assam Rifles after their camps near the India-Myanmar border were overrun by the Arakan Army fighters.
Some of the fleeing Myanmar soldiers were critically injured in the gun battle and basic medical treatment was provided to them by the Assam Rifles.
The soldiers were in the custody of Assam Rifles at Parva in Lawngtlai.
In November, a total of 104 Myanmar soldiers, including officers, fled to Mizoram in different phases after their camps near the border were overrun by pro-democracy armed groups.
Since November 13, several Myanmar soldiers fled to the Indian territory in different phases after their camps in Chin state were captured by the Chin National Defence Force, the armed wing of the Chin National Organisation.
They were earlier airlifted by the Indian Air Force to Moreh in Manipur, from where they were repatriated to Tamu, the nearest town on the Myanmar side.
Besides soldiers, several thousand Myanmarese civilians, including women and children, took shelter in Mizoram's Champhai and other districts since last month following the gunfights between
