Woman Escapes Rape by Burma Army Soldier in Southern Shan State
By Network Media Group
Thursday, April 25, 2024
A woman displaced by fighting has reportedly escaped after a soldier attempted to rape her in the jungles in Hsihseng Township where the regime is fighting with Pa’O resistance forces in southern Shan State.
“With his gun drawn, a junta soldier ordered her to step into a hut where there were many sick people staying. As the soldier waved his gun around, shouting to make them leave from the hut, she managed to escape barefoot,” an anonymous source from a volunteer group explained about the April 15 incident.
The man said they only revealed what happened to the woman after she was able to find safety from the soldiers who are searching for her whereabouts.
The accused is Burma army private Nyi Nyi Naing from the Light Infantry Battalion 423 base in Hsihseng town. According to the victim, the soldier has a drug problem.
The woman is traumatized, the man said. “She’s afraid the junta soldier will kill her if he finds her.”
Both regime and soldiers from the Pa-O People’s Militia Force, which is fighting alongside the junta, are accused of sexual violence against women affected by the clashes in the area.
According to the Pa-O Youth Organization, over 70,000 people who have been displaced from the conflict that started in Pa’O Self-Administered Zone in late January need humanitarian aid. Over 60 people have been reportedly killed by airstrikes and shelling fired by the Military Council.
