Unique mortars laced with chemical ingredients are being supplied by the junta to its military battalions in Kachin State and Shan State, said sources close to the army.
Burmese troops have been instructed by the army that the unique shells, marked with red, yellow and green colours, are to be used in war on the orders of the Burmese Army, said Burmese soldiers in Northeast Shan State.
The places where these mortar shells explode, people will show three symptoms like feeling faint, have breathing difficulties and lose their eyesight, the sources said.
Army sources said the mortars were received from North Korea but the Burmese Army also has mortars made in China, Russia and India.
Two military trucks carrying these mortars have been despatched to the Burmese Army’s No. 1 Nyaung Pin military base on the mountain top near Mongkoe in Northeast Shan State, early this month, said insiders.
During the clash between Burmese troops and Kokang rebels also called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) from August 27 to 29, in rebel territory in Northeast Shan State, the Burmese Army fired the mortar once, said sources close to the MNDAA.
After a single mortar was fired, rebels and civilians in the area had bleeding noses and ears, said rebel sources.
During the war between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese Army in Nam Yun-Pang Sau in Hukawng Valley in western Kachin State in 1992, Burmese warplanes dropped bombs laced with chemicals on the KIA.
The effect of the bombing left some KIA soldiers finding it difficult to walk and many had problems of physical locomotion, said KIA soldiers who took part in the war.
Sources said the Burmese Army is planning to use more heavy mortars, tanks and warplanes rather than a large number of soldiers in the event of war with ethnic ceasefire groups--- KIA, United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), which is expected soon.
At the moment, China is preparing three new refugee camps for Burmese near the Burma border in its Yunnan province. It is urging its citizens in east of Burma to return home, according to the Chinese media and border sources.
