January 2025: SAC soldiers arrested and shot a villager in Aa--- village, Day Loh village tract, causing serious injury

On January 11th 2025, SAC [State Administration Council[2]] soldiers from an unknown battalion were conducting military operations [aimed at ‘clearing areas’ by attacking local armed resistance groups] in Aa--- village area, in Day Loh village tract[3], Htaw Ta Htoo Township, Taw Oo District. At around 7:30 am, one of the SAC soldiers aimed his gun at a villager named A---, while he [the villager] was travelling by motorbike on a road in front of the house of a villager (named U[4] B---), in the middle of Aa--- village. The SAC soldiers demanded A--- to stop driving the motorbike. When he stopped, the SAC soldiers questioned him and confiscated his motorbike and phone. Then, they arrested him, and some [SAC] soldiers took him to the forest outside of the village. The SAC soldiers told him to take out his shoes and cap. After that, one of the soldiers turned around while talking on the phone, and A--- escaped. As he was escaping, the SAC soldiers shot at him four or five times. He was hit by a bullet and seriously injured on his right arm. It was bleeding, but he kept running away and went back to his house [in Aa--- village]. A--- reported to KHRG: “They told me to take out my shoes and my cap after they took me to the forest. Then, they said ‘You will have to rest here. You will rest forever’. Based on their words, I thought they would kill me for sure. So I had to [try to] escape even if I am dead or alive [in consequence]. When I escaped, they shot at me. I was hit by the bullet and injured.”  

When he arrived [at home], his family members saw that he was bleeding and immediately called a car driver from the village church to send him to the General Hospital in Toungoo Town for medical treatment. The hospital is administered by the SAC. His upper arm bone [humerus] was broken due to the injury and was [surgically] attached by a steel plate. On the day of the incident, before he was arrested, he had travelled from his house to work on his plantation. Before the incident, these SAC soldiers, from an unknown battalion, collaborated with SAC soldiers from IB [Infantry Battalion[5]] #39 army camp, in Lay Maing (‘Four Miles’) village, Day Loh village tract.

A--- lives in Aa--- village, and he is a 48-year-old father of four children. There are six people in his family. His wife’s name is Naw[6] C--- (aged 42). His eldest son’s name is Saw[7] D--- (aged 22). His daughter’s name is Naw E--- (aged 19). His second son’s name is Saw F--- (aged 15), and his youngest son’s name is Saw G--- (aged 12).  

February 2025: SAC shelling damaged plantations in Bb--- village, Day Loh village tract 

On February 2nd 2025, at 11:57 am, SAC soldiers fired one mortar round into Bb--- village, Day Loh village tract, Htaw Ta Htoo Township, Taw Oo District. The soldiers are based in IB #39 army camp in Lay Maing (‘Four Miles’) village, Thandaunggyi Road, Htaw Ta Htoo Township. The mortar shell landed on a plum mango plantation in the village, owned by a villager named U H---, and exploded. The shrapnel hit and damaged some plum mango trees. The shrapnel also hit and damaged some bamboo plants in the house compound of U I---, which is located close to the fence of the plum mango plantation.  

March 2025: SAC shelling and air strike damaged villagers’ property in P’Saw Loh village tract, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township

On March 13th 2025, at 9:17 pm, SAC soldiers indiscriminately fired three rounds of mortar into P’Saw Loh village tract, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, Taw Oo District. The SAC soldiers are based in an army camp in Shel Tho Maing (‘13 Miles’) Town, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township. A few minutes later, an SAC aircraft dropped two bombs on a rubber plantation near Dd--- village, P’Saw Loh village tract, and a few minutes after the air strike, the [same] SAC soldiers from Shel Tho Maing (‘13 Miles’) Town fired three mortar rounds into P’Saw Loh village tract. Although fighting had not happened that day, the SAC conducted shelling and an air strike in a civilian area.

One of the mortar shells landed on a villager’s house in Cc--- section of Dd--- village, P’Saw Loh village tract. The house and almost all belongings inside were destroyed. The house was owned by Naw J--- (aged 52). When the incident happened, Naw J---, her husband, and her grandchild were under the house. When they heard the sound of the shelling, they quickly ran to the kitchen, located near the house [in the house compound], to hide. [The kitchen was the nearest place for villagers to hide quickly when the incident happened.] Therefore, they were not injured when the mortar shell landed on the house.

Another mortar shell landed and exploded on a mango tree in the house compound of Saw K--- in Cc--- section of Dd--- village. The shrapnel from the explosion hit Bwe Moe Bwar Baptist Church. The church’s zinc roof and wall were slightly damaged. The shrapnel also hit three other villagers’ houses and some trees, which were slightly damaged. However, no villager was injured.

The last mortar shell landed on a stump beside a tar road in Ee--- section of Dd--- village and exploded. The shrapnel hit the tar road and an electricity wire, which were damaged. The shrapnel also struck a shop beside the tar road, owned by a villager named L---. The shop’s zinc roof, the glass of the door, and some bottles of bean jam were damaged. The shrapnel also hit another house, a cement fence, and a warehouse, owned by a villager named M---. The house’s cement pillar, the cement fence post, and the warehouse’s zinc roof were slightly damaged. No villager was hit or injured.

One of the bombs dropped by the SAC aircraft [on that same day] landed and exploded in a ditch between the rubber plantations of two villagers named Daw N--- and O---. The ditch is located near ‘Pa Thit’ hydropower dam, close to Dd--- village. The bomb’s explosion damaged some rubber trees owned by Daw N--- and O---. Daw N--- is a villager from Ff--- village, P’Saw Loh village tract, and O--- is a villager from Dd--- village. The other bomb dropped by the SAC aircraft landed on the rubber plantation of O---. It did not explode, but it went into the ground to a depth of eight feet, creating a hole that was 1.5 feet [around 45 cm] wide. Local villagers believe that these two bombs were 500-pound bombs.

According to local villagers who saw the incident sites, nobody would have been safe, whether they had stayed in their houses or hidden in bunkers, if these bombs had been dropped and exploded in a village. [They said that] everybody would have died. Local villagers were very afraid.

The other three mortar shells landed and exploded in a forest to the west of Ff--- village. There were no damages or casualties.

Further background reading on the situation of shooting-on-sight in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports:

• “Taw Oo District Short Update: SAC shot dead a minor and arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured a villager in Htaw Ta Htoo Township (May 2024)”, July 2024.
• “Dooplaya District Incident Report: SAC shot and injured a villager in Noh T’Kaw Township, October 2023”, May 2024.
• “Why would they target us?”: Exploring patterns of the Burma Army's retaliatory abuses against villagers across Southeast Burma, June 2023.
• Deadly Encounters: Killings of civilians by armed actors in Southeast Burma (October 2022 - April 2023), June 2023.