About 300 soldiers of the Burmese junta have crossed the border into India, fleeing the path of advance of rebel forces fighting against the military in power in Myanmar, an officer of the Indian paramilitary said, AFP reported, citing News.ro.

Military clashes are rife in parts of Myanmar near the Indian border in the west, after the Arakan Army (AA) launched a large-scale operation in November against security forces and the regular army that came to power after a military coup (state coup) in 2021, suffered a sharp defeat.

The offensive ended a widely respected truce in the region after the coup. AA announced on Sunday that it had captured the town of Paletwa in Chin State, about 20 kilometers from the border with Bangladesh, and six military bases located along the border with the Indian state of Mizoram, which the Burmese military crossed on Wednesday.

Who does the Myanmar army support?

A total of 276 soldiers from Myanmar arrived with weapons and ammunition in the village of Bondukbangsora, an officer with the Indian paramilitary Assam Rifles told AFP, who declined to be identified.

“We have received them in our camp,” he announced, adding that the arriving Burmese soldiers were receiving “all the support they need.”

The officer said his unit had registered the biometric data of the Burmese soldiers and sought permission from India’s defense ministry to send them to Myanmar.

Two Burmese military planes have arrived in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state, to pick up and repatriate soldiers who have left the conflict.

In October, an alliance between the AA and two other ethnic minority groups launched a joint offensive against the junta in Shan State and captured vital towns and commercial centers on the (northern) Chinese border.

Last week, the alliance announced a ceasefire – under the auspices of Beijing – in the region after months of armed conflict that has posed the biggest threat to Myanmar’s junta since it came to power.