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Displaced villagers residing at a hiding site in Lu Thaw Township of northern Papun District on May 17th 2008. These villagers fled with a larger group from the Lee Kee area - including residents of Leh Kee, Baw Lay Der and Gheh Yuh Der villages - when Burma Army operations increased in the Kay Bpoo area during 2007. The woman in photo B-60 is pounding rice at a communal rice pounder. Before these villagers fled their homes, every household in their communities had had their own rice pounder. [Photos: KHRG]

Villagers living in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District, built this bridge over the Yunzalin River (Bpwoh Loh Gkloh in Karen), shown here in June 2008, in order to ease travel through the area and to a local Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) office. [Photo: KHRG]

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A community of displaced villagers in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District, fords a river in June 2008 in an effort to evade Burma Army patrols operating in the area. [Photos: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers [Photos B-89, B-90, B-91 and B-92] who fled from their homes at Tar Gkaw Der village, Tar Gkaw Der village tract, Nyaunglebin District, due to SPDC operations in the area are shown here on June 1st 2008 constructing new homes at an internally displaced hiding site located elsewhere in the district. [Photos: KHRG]

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As the rainy season was underway when these photos were taken, the villagers had to work quickly to get some form of shelter up to protect themselves, their food and other supplies from the water.

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Photos B-93 to B-96 show other internally displaced villagers from Tar Gkaw Der and Kheh Der village tracts now living at the same hiding site as those in photos B-89 to B-92 on June 1st 2008. Villagers who choose to live in hiding often have to secretly plant and maintain crops in the hills and construct new homes (like those shown in photos B-93, B-95 and B-97) in order to survive. [Photos: KHRG]

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On June 4th 2008, Burma Army troops from Infantry Battalion (IB) #240 attacked and burnt down Day Muh Der (also known as Wa Doh Koh) village [Photos B-99 and B-100], which is situated in Lu Thaw Township of northern Papun District. Local residents, including those from Day Muh Der itself as well as those from the adjacent Htee Hsih Kee village, fled the Burma Army soldiers on the day of the attack. As this occurred during the rainy season, the wet and muddy conditions made flight and evasion particularly difficult for the villagers.

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Burma Army soldiers dumped the supplies shown in photo B-101 on the ground when they ransacked the local church at Day Muh Der village during the attack. Items belonging to the church that were destroyed by the soldiers included four microphones, speakers, two amplifiers, one piano and one guitar.

The soldiers also dumped out the rice shown in photo B-102, which KHRG photographed on June 6th, and set it alight along with the sugar cane juicer, rice storage shed and irrigated agricultural fields of 55-year-old Saw Gk--- during the June 4th attack on Day Muh Der.

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Local villager Saw K--- salvaged rice (shown in photo B-103 on June 6th 2008) in Day Mu Der village from amongst the supplies which SPDC soldiers burnt on June 4th 2008. Also destroyed in SPDC LIB #240's June 4th attack on Day Muh Der village were Saw K---'s rice mill [Photo B-104] and most of the 120 baskets of his rice supplies [Photo B-105] .

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Around many of the IDP hiding sites and other non-SPDC controlled villages in the mountains of northern Karen State, KNLA forces, as well as local villagers, plant landmines around settlements in order to provide security against SPDC patrols. KNLA forces also plant landmines along vehicle roads in the area as a means of ambushing SPDC patrols. Typically, they inform local communities about the locations of mined areas. But, when Day Mu Der villagers fled the SPDC attack on June 4th 2008, they had to leave their livestock and belongings behind. During this time, unable to look after his livestock, a buffalo belonging to Kyaw Soe wandered away from the safe zone near Day Mu Der village and was injured by a KNLA-deployed landmine at a nearby vehicle road. The injured buffalo [Photos B-106 and B-107] then limped back to the burnt down village where it subsequently died. This photograph was taken on June 6th 2008, shortly after the buffalo had died.

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On June 10th 2008, some of the displaced villagers from Day Muh Der and Htee Hsih Kee returned to their abandoned homes in order to collect food and other supplies that were left behind during flight and which escaped destruction and looting by the Burma Army soldiers. Some of the villagers' personal possessions, rice supplies and livestock (including chickens, pigs and goats) were taken away by the departing soldiers. [Photos: KHRG]

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These children sit and play at a displaced hiding site in Tantabin Township of southern Toungoo District. When this photo was taken in July 2008, they were unable to travel to attend school due to ongoing patrols of SPDC Army units in their area. [Photo: KHRG]

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An elderly woman removes the husk from paddy using a temporary rice pounder set up at a displaced hiding site in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District, in August 2008. Due to ongoing Burma Army patrols, the displaced villagers at this site were unable to return to their abandoned village to retrieve their stores of already-husked rice. This photo was taken in the midst of the rainy season and the flimsy plastic sheet covering the rice was unlikely to keep the supplies completely dry. In a normal village that has been established for some time, villagers would have a more permanent and adequate structure under which to pound and store their rice supplies. [Photos: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers at a hiding site in Tantabin Township prepare to return [photo B-146] to their former village in order to collect rice supplies left behind when they earlier fled from Burma Army patrols. In photo B-147 on September 5th 2008, a column of villagers travel back to their village together with an escort of KNLA soldiers for protection. [Photos: KHRG]

Displaced villagers prepare to cross a vehicle road in Tantabin Township, southern Toungoo District, together with an escort of KNLA soldiers on September 11th 2008. The soldiers provide security and coordinate the crossing because Burma Army troops operating in this area target displaced civilians with a shoot-on-sight policy. [Photos: KHRG]

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This family originally hailed from Htee Bper Kee village, Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District. However, following skirmishes between KNLA and DKBA troops nearby, soldiers from DKBA Special Battalion #999 burnt down Htee Bper Kee village on October 7th 2008 and ordered the residents to relocate to nearby Htee Bper village. After relocating to Htee Bper, these villagers no longer had access to their agricultural fields or plantations and furthermore had to do forced labour in the construction of a new DKBA camp adjacent to the village.

As a result of these combined pressures, some relocated residents (including the family shown here on October 14th 2008) fled Htee Bper village and headed by boat for an IDP camp elsewhere in Pa'an District. For more information on the destruction of Htee Bper Kee village and related forced relocation, see Human minesweeping and forced relocation as SPDC and DKBA step up joint operations in Pa'an District. [Video: KHRG]

B-164 [coming soon]