KHRG received this photo from an officer of Noh T’Kaw Township’s KNU Documentation Group[10] on 21st July 2025. On July 12th 2025, a villager stepped on a landmine near the SAC army camp of Infantry Battalion (IB) #283, located near Seik Gyi Town, in Noh T’Kaw Township, Dooplaya District. The photo, taken on the way to the hospital, shows the 60-year-old villager, Daw A---, who lost both legs and sustained injuries to her body due to the landmine explosion. She died at the hospital two days later. [Photo: local authority].
A villager was killed by an SAC landmine in Noh T’Kaw Township:
[Although Noh T’Kaw Township, in Dooplaya District, is largely under Karen National Union (KNU)[2] control,] the KNU cannot fully control some areas near Seik Gyi Town, in Noh T’Kaw Township. [The State Administration Council (SAC)[3]’s] Infantry Battalion (IB)[4] #283 has an army camp located near Aa--- village, Noh T’Kaw village tract[5], Noh T’Kaw Township, about one mile [1.6 km] away from Seik Gyi Town. [Meanwhile,] [SAC’s] IB #284 is based near Ab--- village, Kya Hka Chaung (T’Hka Kloh) village tract, also about one mile [1.6 km] away from Seik Gyi Town. The centre of these two camps is Seik Gyi Town, where the [SAC’s] IB #32 is based. These three battalions combined are under [the control of] one Tactical Operations Command (TOC)[6]. [The TOC army camp is also located near Seik Gyi Town]. Sometimes, combined armed resistance forces have attacked these SAC army camps using drones and snipers. [Local villagers believe that,] in response, the SAC soldiers planted landmines in villagers’ rubber plantation fields, located about six furlongs (1,207 meters) away from their camps.
In July, during the rainy season, bamboo shoots were sprouting, and villagers [from the nearby area] went to the plantation fields to collect them for food. On July 12th 2025, a villager named Daw[7] A--- (60 years old) and her daughter, Ma[8] B--- (19 years old), from Aa--- village, went to a rubber plantation about six furlongs [1,207 meters] away from [SAC’s] IB #283 [located near Aa--- village] to gather bamboo shoots. After collecting them, Daw A--- lifted the heavy bag full of bamboo shoots for her daughter, Ma B---, to carry. As Daw A--- stepped forward, she stepped on a landmine. The [landmine] explosion tore off both of her legs, filled her body with shrapnel, and left her unconscious. Ma B--- immediately called villagers by phone to report that her mother had been injured. Village leaders arranged transportation for her [Daw A---] to be sent to Mawlamyine Hospital [administered by the SAC]. She was admitted to the hospital and placed on oxygen support. However, due to the severity of her injuries, she passed away on July 14th 2025. [She received treatment free of charge.]
Daw A--- was a widow and worked in a rubber plantation as a daily labourer. During the rainy season, [following Daw A---’s death,] there was not much work available, so Ma B--- (Daw A---’s daughter) faced challenges finding a job and became unemployed.
U[9] C---, a village leader from Aa--- village, Noh T’Kaw village tract, explained to KHRG that: “It would have been best if it [the landmine incident] had not occurred. As workers, we have to go to the farms as well as into the forest. If landmines are planted, we must work and travel in constant fear. Life is valuable, and I pray that such incidents will not happen again in the future. On behalf of the victim’s family, I would like to request support from any organisation that can help them [the victim’s family].”
Further background reading on the situation of landmines in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports: