India to send back 276 Myanmar soldiers who fled to Mizoram last week

India will send back 276 Myanmar soldiers who fled to Mizoram after a firefight with an ethnic insurgent group last week, an official said on Sunday. He said, with this repatriation, which will continue for two days – Monday and Tuesday, more than 600 Myanmar soldiers who fled to Mizoram will be sent back to their country.

The 276 personnel will be airlifted by Myanmar Air Force aircraft from Lengpui air base near Aizawl to Sittwe in neighboring Rakhine state, an Assam Rifles official told PTI. They, he said, entered Bandukbanga village on the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh trijunction in Longtlai district of southern Mizoram with arms and ammunition on January 17 and approached the Assam Rifles.

They were taken to the Assam Rifles camp at nearby Parva and later most of them were shifted to Lunglei, he said. Since then, they are under the surveillance of Assam Rifles, the officer said.

These 276 soldiers were brought to Aizawl on Saturday and Sunday from Lengpui airport to Myanmar, he said. Officials said the group is led by a colonel and consists of 36 officers and 240 lower level personnel.

Since November, 635 Myanmar soldiers have left their country and entered Mizoram after their camps were taken over by ethnic armed organizations and pro-democracy forces, officials said. He said that 359 of those soldiers have already been sent back to their country.

While 104 Myanmar Army personnel were airlifted from various locations in Mizoram to the Manipur border town of Moreh by Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters in November, 255 soldiers were airlifted to the Lengpui airport by Myanmar Air Force aircraft on January 2 and January 9. Was taken through. , They said. Mizoram shares a 510 km long border with Myanmar.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)