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Print:This Incident Report describes events occurring in Moo (Mone) Township, Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District. On December 26th 2024, at around 7 pm, the State Administration Council (SAC) fired two rounds of howitzer, into A--- village, Htwa Nee Koh village tract, injuring a 46-year-old man when he was returning home after searching for frogs. Following the incident, his brother and some villagers accompanied him to a nurse’s house to wrap his wound, and later he was transferred to a hospital located in Kyaung Pya village tract, Moo Township. He did not receive enough medicine due to supply shortages in the hospital, so his family had to buy it elsewhere. As a result of the SAC shelling, the villagers are constantly worried and must be cautious when travelling to their plantations. Some of them fled their homes because of the attacks.[1]
Part 1 – Incident Details
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Type of Incident |
Shelling and injury |
|
Date of Incident(s) |
December 26th 2024 |
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Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
A--- village, Htwa Nee Koh village tract[2], Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District |
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Victim Information |
|
|
Name |
Saw[3] D--- |
|
Age |
46 years old |
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Gender |
Man |
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Ethnicity |
Karen |
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Marital Status |
Married |
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Occupation |
Farmer |
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Religion |
Animist |
|
Position |
- |
|
Village |
A--- village |
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Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors) |
||||
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Name(s) |
Rank |
Unit |
Base |
Commander’s Name |
|
- |
- |
[Unknown unit of] SAC [State Administration Council[4]] |
Kwin Chaung Ywa army camp [located to the west of the Sittang river, in Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District.] |
[Unknown] |
Part 2 - Information Quality
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1. Explain in detail how this information was collected. |
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After the incident occurred and the victim was taken to E--- Hospital [which is run by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW)[5]], a nurse named Naw[6] B--- approached me [the KHRG researcher] about this incident. I [the researcher] then proceeded with the documentation [interviewing the victim’s brother, named Saw C---]. |
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2. Explain how the source verified this information. |
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This information was given by the victim’s brother named Saw C---, who reached the victim when he [the victim] was injured during the incident. He then transported him [the victim] to the hospital. |
Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident
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Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. |
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On December 26th 2024, soldiers from the State Administration Council (SAC), based in Kwin Chaung Ywa army camp (located to the west of the Sittang River, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District), fired two howitzer rounds into A--- village, Htwa Nee Koh village tract, Moo Township. One round landed to the west of the village [outside], while the other landed near a 46-year-old man named Saw D---.
Saw D--- is originally from A--- village. His house is situated on the western side of A--- village, near the farmlands. On that evening [December 26th 2024], at around 7 pm, he decided to go searching for frogs in the nearby farmland to catch something for his dinner, as he had no curry to eat. While returning home, a shell landed [and exploded] near him, injuring his right leg and chin. In pain and fear, he screamed [for help].
After the incident occurred, his brother Saw C--- took him to the house of a nurse [unknown name and age] [located in A--- village]. His wound was wrapped by a KNLA [Karen National Liberation Army[7]] commander [who happen to be visiting the nurse]. Later, Saw C--- and the villagers accompanied him to the hospital in E--- village (in Kyaung Pya village tract, Moo Township), administered by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW).
The doctors at the hospital also treated his wound, but his leg was not amputated that day due to his critically low blood count and lack of strength. However, on the next day, his leg was amputated. They [the doctors] informed Saw D---’s brother that he [Saw D---] needed prolonged treatment, as his condition was delicate and attempting to heal [operate on] all his wounds at the same time could be life-threatening. Despite the hospital’s shortage of medicine, [according to Saw C---] the doctors did their best to provide care.
According to Saw C--- [the brother of the victim]: “We planned to transfer him [Saw D---] to H--- hospital, but it is really far from here [A--- village]. We had to use our own [financial] resources to take him. If we had gone, we would have had to spend a night outside [travelling] before reaching H--- hospital”. [H--- hospital is administered by the Karen National Union (KNU)[8], and it is located in J--- Place, Kheh Pa Hta village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw (Hpapun) District]
During his treatment, his family had to purchase the medicine, which cost at least 500,000 kyat [USD 237.76][9] from I--- village (located in Haw Hkoh Ghaw village tract, Moo Township), due to the lack of medicine at the [E---] hospital.
The SAC soldiers sometimes fire shells into the village [A--- village] without any apparent reason or combat occurring [according to the KHRG researcher].[10] As a result, there are casualties and displacement. The villagers [from A--- village] are always cautious and worried. Some villagers do not dare to travel to their plantations to sustain their livelihoods. Additionally, the villagers always have to be careful about where they go [because of the shelling]. They were preparing [building] bunkers when the shelling [that injured Saw D---] happened. |
Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details
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Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided. |
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The victim [Saw D---] allowed KHRG to publish this information to let [people from] the world know about this incident. |
Further background reading on the situation of SAC shelling in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports:
- Defying Hunger : State Administration Council (SAC)’s systematic destruction of civilian livelihoods and food systems in Southeast Burma (January - December 2024), May 2025.
- “Kler Lwee Htoo District Short Update: SAC drone strikes and indiscriminate shelling caused casualties, destruction, and livelihood and education challenges in Ler Doh Township (November to December 2024)”, March 2025.
- “Kler Lwee Htoo District Incident Report: SAC mortar shelling killed two villagers and injured three children in Moo Township (July 2024)”, March 2025.
- Photo Set: SAC indiscriminate shelling in Southeast Burma, and its impacts on villagers, January 2023 to February 2024, June 2024.
Footnotes:
[1] The present document is based on information received in January 2025. It was provided by a community member in Kler Lwee Htoo District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions on the ground. The names of the victims, their photos and the exact locations are censored for security reasons. The parts in square brackets are explanations added by KHRG.
[2] A village tract is an administrative unit of between five and 20 villages in a local area, often centred on a large village.
[3] ‘Saw’ is a S'gaw Karen male honorific title used before a person's name.
[4] The State Administration Council (SAC) is the executive governing body created in the aftermath of the February 1st 2021 military coup. It was established by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on February 2nd 2021, and is composed of eight military officers and eight civilians. The chairperson serves as the de facto head of government of Myanmar and leads the Military Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the government. Min Aung Hlaing assumed the role of SAC chairperson following the coup.
[5] The Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) is the health department of the Karen National Union. It was established in 1956 to address the lack of public healthcare resources in rural Southeast Burma. It currently operates a network of community-based clinics in the region, but its capabilities remain limited due to funding constraints. See more at: “About KDHW”, kdhw.org/about-kdhw/
[6] ‘Naw’ is a S’gaw Karen female honorific title used before a person’s name.
[7] The Karen National Liberation Army is the armed wing of the Karen National Union.
[8] The Karen National Union (KNU) is the main Karen political organisation. It was established in 1947 and has been in conflict with the government since 1949. The KNU wields power across large areas of Southeast Myanmar and has been calling for the creation of a democratic federal system since 1976. Although it signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015, following the 2021 coup staged by Burma Army leaders, the KNU officially stated that the NCA has become void.
[9] All conversion estimates for the kyat are based on the May 9th 2025 mid-market exchange rate of 1,000 kyat to USD 0.48 (taken from wise.com/gb/currency-converter/mmk-to-usd-rate).
