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Print:This Incident Report describes events occurring in Noh T’Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Township, Dooplaya District, in March 2026. On 20 March 2026, Burma Army soldiers arrested and severely beat four villagers, including a 16-year-old boy, at a checkpoint while they were travelling to Kyainseikgyi Town. The Burma Army punched each of them in the face at least three times and beat them over 30 times each. Two women travelling with the detained villagers alerted a local Border Guard Force (BGF) of their arrest, and the BGF helped facilitate the release of the young men later the same day. One of the victims, Saw A---, suffered from extreme pain and could not sleep well at night after he returned home.[1]
Part 1 – Incident Details
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Type of Incident |
SAC [State Administration Council,[2] also known as the Burma Army[3]] arrested four villagers and tortured them at the checkpoint. |
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Date of Incident(s) |
20 March 2026 |
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Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
Noh T'Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Town, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District. |
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Victim Information |
||||
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Name |
Saw[4] A--- |
Saw B--- |
Saw C--- |
Saw D--- |
|
Age |
22 years old |
18 years old |
16 years old |
19 years old |
|
Gender |
Man |
Man |
Boy |
Man |
|
Ethnicity |
Karen |
Karen |
Karen |
Karen |
|
Marital Status |
Single |
Single |
Single |
Single |
|
Occupation |
Farmer |
Farmer |
Farmer |
Farmer |
|
Religion |
Buddhist |
Buddhist |
Buddhist |
Buddhist |
|
Position |
Villager |
Villager |
Villager |
Villager |
|
Village |
Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract,[5] Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District |
Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District |
Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District |
Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District |
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Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors) |
||||
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Name(s) |
Rank |
Unit |
Base |
Commander’s Name |
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
IB [Infantry Battalion][6] #283, #284, #32; Seik Gyi police; and immigration officers |
Seik Gyi [Kyainseikgyi] Town |
Unknown |
Part 2 - Information Quality
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1. Explain in detail how you collected this information. |
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A villager who knew the four young people who were tortured contacted the field researcher, so I [a KHRG researcher] knew this information. |
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2. Explain how the source verified this information. |
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I [a KHRG researcher] conducted an interview with one of the victims, [Saw A---,] who was tortured. I [KHRG researcher] took the picture of the injury, so this information is true. |
Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident
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Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. |
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Seik Gyi [Kyainseikgyi] Town in Dooplaya District is under the control of the SAC [State Administration Council]. Villagers from both nearby and distant areas were travelling through Seik Gyi Town. Some villagers from distant areas did not know the alternative routes to avoid the town, so they passed through it. Police in Seik Gyi Town, along with SAC soldiers and immigration officers, were operating and conducting checks at the entrance of the town on the main road. This checkpoint is located in the Seik Gyi Town–Kyon Kone area, where multiple groups [of the Burma Army] are involved in the checking.
On 20 March 2026, at around 10 am, Saw A---, Saw B---, Saw C---, and Saw D--- accompanied two friends, both women, from Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract, Noh T’Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Township, Dooplaya District, who were travelling to another village via Seik Gyi Town. When they arrived at the checkpoint, the SAC stopped them but did not stop the two women. The SAC asked questions in Burmese, but the young people only spoke Karen, so they did not understand what they were being asked. When they [the Burma Army] checked Saw A---’s phone, they saw a picture of his friend wearing camouflage trousers. Then, the SAC [soldiers] punched each of them [the four men] in the face at least three times. After that, they were handcuffed and forced to kneel with their hands raised. They were then hit with a stick at least 30 times each.
As the two women were not stopped by the SAC at the checkpoint, they went to Ab--- village, Noh T’Kaw village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township. They informed one of their friends in Ab--- village about the incident. Then, their friend asked for help from a BGF [Border Guard Force][7] checkpoint authority in the village. The BGF checkpoint authority contacted the SAC and informed them that those young people were civilians, not enemies [members of an armed group]. Therefore, on 20 March 2026, at about 11 am, the SAC released them. After they were released, they returned to the village and did not continue their journey. [After release, they did not seek formal treatment at a medical facility.]
In March 2026, [a KHRG researcher conducted an interview with Saw A--- and] he explained that after he returned home, he could not move his body easily or sleep well at night because of his injury. He even needed to take medicine to reduce the pain. Saw A--- added: “I could not breathe well and felt dizzy when they hit me. I could not bear the pain, and I thought it would be better if they shot me dead. Last night, I could not sleep well. I cannot lie on my back for long, so I sometimes have to sleep lying prone.”
Saw A---'s injury had worsened, and he was experiencing more pain when the KHRG researcher asked him about his injury again [later] in March 2026. |
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 information can be used. [The victim, Saw A---, allowed KHRG to use the information.] |
Further background reading on the situation in Dooplaya District in Southeast Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports:
- Stolen Childhoods: Violations of children’s rights, urgent needs, and local agency in rural Southeast Burma during the conflict, October 2025.
- “Dooplaya District Short Update: Burma Army shelling, fighting, and villagers’ protest against the Burma military regime’s election in Noh T’Kaw Township (December 2025 to January 2026)”, May 2025.
- “Dooplaya District Incident Report: Burma Army shelling injured a villager in Noh T’Kaw Township (December 2025)”, March 2026.
This photo was taken in March 2026, in Aa--- village, Lay Wah Hka village tract, Noh T’Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Township, Dooplaya District. On 20 March 2026, the Burma Army arrested and severely beat four young people at the checkpoint in Seik Gyi Town. This photo shows the welts on the back of Saw A--- after he was beaten with a stick by the Burma Army. [Photo: KHRG]
Footnotes:
[1] The present document is based on information received in March 2026. It was provided by a community member in Dooplaya District who has been trained by KHRG as a researcher 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. This document combines several received reports with the following KHRG internal log numbers: # 26-94-I1 and # 26-94-A1-I1.
[2] The State Administration Council (SAC) was the name of the executive governing body of the Burma military regime created in the aftermath of the 1 February 2021 military coup. It was established by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on 2 February 2021 and was composed of eight military officers and eight civilians. The chairperson serves as the de facto head of government of Burma/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. The military junta changed its name on 31 July 2025 from SAC to State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC), with Min Aung Hlaing retaining his position as chairperson.
[3] The terms Burma military, Burma Army, SAC, Tatmadaw, and junta are used interchangeably throughout this report to describe the Burma military regime’s armed forces. Villagers themselves commonly use Burma Army, Burmese soldiers, or alternatively the name adopted by the Burma military regime at the time —from the 2021 coup to July 2025, the State Administration Council (SAC). On 31 July 2025, the military junta changed its name to the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC).
[4] 'Saw’ is a S’gaw Karen male honorific title used before a person’s name.
[5] A village tract is an administrative unit of between five and 20 villages in a local area, often centred on a large village.
[6] An Infantry Battalion (IB) comprises 500 soldiers. However, most Infantry Battalions in the Tatmadaw are under-strength with less than 200 soldiers. Yet up to date information regarding the size of battalions is hard to come by, particularly following the signing of the NCA. They are primarily used for garrison duty but are sometimes used in offensive operations.
[7] Border Guard Force (BGF) battalions of the Tatmadaw were established in 2010, and they are composed mostly of soldiers from former non-state armed groups, such as older constellations of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which have formalised ceasefire agreements with the Burma/Myanmar government and agreed to transform into battalions within the Tatmadaw. Some of the BGF battalions transformed into the Karen National Army (KNA) in January 2026.
