Five members of the junta’s infamous Ogre Column, including its commander, have been captured in Mandalay Region, according to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The group is notorious for targeting civilians in Sagaing, Magwe and Mandalay regions.
The five troops were in hiding on the Thabeikkyin-Mogoke road after retreating from Mogoke, which was seized by anti-regime groups last month. They were captured on August 14 while looking for food while in hiding, according to a PLA spokeswoman.
“They looked suspicious so we interrogated them and found they were from the Ogre Column. We are still investigating,” she told The Irrawaddy.
The detachment was sent to the prized Mandalay ruby hub of Mogoke as reinforcements. They raided villages in the area but withdrew after the town fell.
They attempted to attack anti-regime troops, including the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, PLA and Mandalay People’s Defense Force (PDF), who were surrounding the junta’s Infantry Battalion 148 headquarters, which subsequently fell.
The Ogre Column had around 100 troops from Light Infantry Battalion 708 based in Taikkyi Township, Yangon Region; Infantry Battalion 11 from Pathein Township in Ayeyarwady Region and the 99th Light Infantry Division in Meiktila Township, Mandalay Region.
Since mid-2022, Ogre troops have been blamed for village raids on resistance strongholds in Sagaing and Magwe regions, slaughtering civilians, raping women and beheading alleged resistance fighters.
A charity worker helping displaced people called the Ogre troops “bloodthirsty devils”.
“They killed anyone in sight regardless of whether they were civilians, resistance fighters, children or elderly. They brutally tortured victims before killing them. Victims were mutilated or burned alive. Women were raped before being killed,” he said.
The unit worked with other junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militias to carry out raids in Ayadaw, Myinmu, Ye-U, Taze, Khin-U, Depayin, Wetlet, Sagaing and Myaung townships in Sagaing Region and Yesagyo Township in Magwe Region.
A Sagaing Township PDF member said: “They were different from other troops. They were despicable. They committed many inhumane crimes and violated all the rules of engagement. Those captured must be given fitting punishments. They must be given harshest punishment under military law.”
In May 2022, Ogre troops massacred 29 civilian detainees and two alleged resistance members during a raid on Mon Taing Pin village in Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region.
They reportedly killed over 50 Ye-U Township civilians, including a pregnant woman who was gang-raped before being killed.
The detachment allegedly killed 23 civilians and five resistance fighters in Myinmu Township. They mutilated a member of a village defense team during a raid in Myinmu Township on February 25 last year before beheading four villagers the following day.
In March last year they allegedly slaughtered 10 civilians, including a Buddhist monk who was a leading anti-regime protester in Mandalay.
Ogre troops abducted 17 civilians as human shields from a village in Sagaing Township in March last year, chopped 14 men to death and gang-raped three women before killing them. The youngest of the victims was 17 and the oldest was 67.
In the same month, Ogre troops beheaded two resistance fighters, including a Sagaing PDF commander in Myaung Township.
They reportedly slit the throats of six civilians in Wetlet Township in August last year.
U Aung Myo Min, human rights minister in the civilian National Unity Government, said his ministry had collected evidence of Ogre Column war crimes and sent it to international organizations.
