1. A Myanmar army transport plane landed at Mizoram’s Lengpui airport, although it’s not classified as an international airport.
2. The plane evacuated 84 Myanmar army personnel who had entered the state, raising concerns about cross-border movements.
3. Of the 151 Myanmar soldiers who entered Mizoram on Friday, 147 were brought to Aizawl from the Assam Rifles camp at Parva via Lunglei on Monday.
Aizawl, Jan 03: Though Mizoram’s lone Lengpui airport near Aizawl is not classified as an international airport, a Myanmar army transport plane landed at the airport and airlifted 84 Myanmar army personnel who entered the state on Friday along with other soldiers, senior state home department official said.
The official said that of the 151 Myanmar soldiers who entered the Mizoram-Myanmar border Tuisentlang village on Friday last, 147 were brought to Aizawl from the Assam Rifles camp at Parva via Lunglei on Monday.
The four injured Myanmar soldiers being treated at the Myanmar border Zorinpui Assam Rifles outpost were brought to Aizawl by an Indian Air Force helicopter and were evacuated in the first airlifting operation to Akyab in Myanmar by the transport plane.
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He said that the remaining 67 Myanmar army personnel will be airlifted from Lengpui Airport on Tuesday to Akyab. “The arrangements were made in a negotiation between the Ministry of External Affairs and the Myanmar military junta to airlift the Myanmar soldiers from Aizawl to Akyab,” he said.
All the arms being brought to Mizoram by the Myanmar army personnel, while fleeing their camp in Myanmar following attacks by the Arakan Army (AA) militants, are also being brought back in the flights.
At least 151 Myanmar army personnel entered the Mizoram-Myanmar border Tuisentlang village in southernmost Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district late Friday.
The Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) members fled their camp called Myeik Wa Camp Point 377 in Chin state of Myanmar adjoining Mizoram after the Arakan Army (AA) militants overran and captured the military camp at around noon on Friday last.
The first batch of Myanmar Army’s 83 personnel first entry came from Myeik Wa Camp Point 377. They belonged to the Light Infantry Regiment-61,62,583 and 586 comprising 12 officers and 71 other ranks.
They were carrying 83 weapons comprising 53 rifles, 11 pistols, 2 Rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), 2 Mortars, 2 Sniper rifles, 2 Medium Machine Guns (MMGs), 5 Light Machine Guns (LMGs) and 171 numbers of hand grenades.
The second group of 68 Myanmar army personnel from Myeik Wa Camp Point 377 are of LIR (Light Infantry Regiment) 61,62,583 and 586.
They comprised 9 officers and 59 soldiers belonging to other ranks.
The weapons they brought inside Mizoram were 40 rifles, 6 pistols, 2 RPGs, 2 Mortars, 2 sniper rifles and 203 hand grenades.
Among 151 soldiers, 9 of them are injured, 4 of them critically Police officials said.
With the entry of 151 Myanmar army personnel on Friday the number of Myanmar soldiers who have crossed over to Mizoram rose to 255 after their camps along the Mizoram border in Chin state were overran and captured by pro-democratic forces and underground militants.
Officials said that 104 Myanmar army personnel who crossed the international border and entered the state from Rihkhawdar, Khawmawi and Tuibual army camps in Chin state of Myanmar adjoining Mizoram, were earlier airlifted to Moreh town in Manipur from where they were further evacuated to Myanmar by the military authorities in November last year.
