27 April 2026 By Hlaing
SAGAING REGION, Myanmar — Faced with a critical shortage of regular troops, the Myanmar military junta has significantly increased its reliance on auxiliary militias to lead frontline operations, with growing reports of forced recruitment and the brutal marking of deserters.
Resistance commanders across the country report that junta combat columns are now predominantly composed of militia members, with regular army personnel often restricted to senior non-commissioned and officer roles to oversee the units.
In regions like Sagaing, where fighting has been particularly intense, the military’s conscription tactics have shifted from formal lotteries to what locals describe as “open abduction.”
“The army no longer bothers with the facade of a legal draft. They are simply snatching people from the streets to fill their ranks,” a resistance fighter in Sagaing told MPA. “These militias have become the primary fighting force because the regular army simply doesn’t have the numbers anymore.”
The desperation of the regime was further exposed in a recent report by the Arakan Army (AA). According to testimonies from escapees captured on 11 April 2026, those who attempted to flee from frontline outposts near Defense Industry Factory No. 16 were forcibly tattooed on their foreheads and cheeks as a permanent mark of their attempt to desert.
The AA highlighted that while regular junta soldiers are often withdrawn from high-casualty areas like Rakhine and Kachin states, militia members are frequently left behind or used as “cannon fodder” in the most dangerous zones.
While the junta’s official Telegram channels continue to broadcast celebratory homecoming ceremonies for those who have allegedly completed their two-year service, observers note a vast discrepancy in the numbers.
“The military claims to recruit 5,000 men per batch,” said a 30-year-old Yangon resident. “But the welcome-home ceremonies they show barely feature a few hundred people. The regime never releases exact figures; they only use their supporters on Facebook to spread a narrative of success.”
Since the reactivation of the People’s Military Service Law in February 2024, the junta has moved aggressively to bolster its depleted ranks. As of April 2026, the military is currently training its 24th batch of conscripts.
As the civil war enters a new and even more violent phase, the influx of poorly trained and often unwilling militia members onto the battlefield suggests a growing fragility within the junta’s military command, even as it continues its campaign of widespread aerial and ground strikes against resistance strongholds.
