Two Myanmar army soldiers who had deserted were killed by military council troops searching for them in Bein Nwe Kone village in Taungtha township, Mandalay at 7 am on November 11, according to local residents.

The Myingyan Peoples Movement Committee said two soldiers, who tried to stand with the people, were killed by military troops searching for them in the southern part of Bein Nwe Kone village.

The two deserters, from the 99 Brigade based in Meiktila, fled from their group patrolling Mytel towers on the night of November 9.

A local resident told Mizzima that the fighting started on the morning of November 10. Two military vehicles with 70 troops patrolled the village and searched for the deserters in the forest. On the morning of November 11, the clash took place at the southern edge of Bein Nwe Kone village, five miles north of Htan Pin Kan village.

“Fighting broke out near the forest, the southern part of the plantation in Bein Nwe Kone village. Two soldiers fled while patrolling the Mytel Tower at Kyauk Myay village in the Htan Pin Lake tract in the night of November 9. When they fled, they both contacted our township groups,” the resident said.

“Since military troops with a large army force searched the vicinity of the village, we were not able to protect the deserters. As the deserters fled at night and the junta force searched them like a cycle form next morning, they had no way to escape,” he said.

Local residents saw the bodies being taken back by junta troops and did not dare to go near the scene, he said.

After the incident, Yone Pin Kan, Kyauk Myay villages and some surrounding villages where two deserters fled were still being besieged by a large number of troops, as of November 12, according to local sources.