Sumlut Roi Ja, 28, the mother of a 14-month daughter, who hails from Hkai Bang near the China border in Sub-Loije Township in Manmaw (Bhamo) District, has been kidnapped, held against her will, and gang-raped by Burmese soldiers at the Mu Bum post for nearly a week beginning October 28, said her relatives.

Her relatives added that Roi Ja, her husband, and her father-in-law were detained by Burmese soldiers when they were harvesting corn at their farm on Mu Bum Mountain.

Later, her husband and father-in-law escaped from the custody of government soldiers, but Roi Ja was brought back to the Burmese frontline post, according to her family members.

Eyewitnesses said they saw the woman’s naked body on a stone platform in the Burmese military post after she was gang-raped by dozens of Burmese soldiers at the military post.

Until November 3, Roi Ja has not been released, said her relatives.

Hkai Bang is situated in the mountainside of Mu Bum, and the villagers there primarily cultivate paddy in the mountain, which is close to Loije in Kachin State and Jang Hkawng in China’s Yunnan province.

Roi Ja’s abduction and gang rape has shocked the villagers of Hkai Bang, and they are now fleeing to safer places, said villagers.

Three women were abducted previously by Burmese soldiers in the area, and continue to be kept at the military post. They are forced to be sex slaves for Burmese soldiers at the post. They are also forced to cook and carry water, according to two porters who recently escaped from the military post.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the Burmese government, which is promoting its democratic reforms in the country while continuing to perpetrate human rights abuses against Kachin and other ethnic people — raping girls and women, arresting and killing civilians, and burning homes of civilians since the government started a new war against the Kachin people on June 9.