Myanmar junta frees troops jailed for desertion so they can fight rebels

Following an amnesty plan announced earlier this week, Myanmar's military government has been freeing soldiers and police who had been jailed for desertion and absence without leave to get them back into service to ease an apparent manpower shortage, a police officer and an army officer said Thursday. As a direct outcome of heightened battlefield pressures faced by the military since seizing power from the elected government in February 2021, a plan has been initiated. The challenges escalated in late October when an alliance of three ethnic minority armed groups launched an offensive in the northern part of Shan state,…