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The body of 38-year-old U Chit Hlaing, a civilian, lies on the forest floor in Toungoo District. SPDC soldiers from Light Infantry Division (LID) #88 and Military Operations Command (MOC) #5 operating under the command of Win Htain Oo shot and killed U Chit Hlaing on July 7th 2007. [Photo: KHRG]

An ethnic Arakan SPDC army deserter from Infantry Battalion (IB) #124, pictured here in August 2007, who fled his unit after witnessing other soldiers in his battalion torturing local villagers in Toungoo District. He told KHRG that he surrendered to the KNLA because he did not want to remain with the SPDC Army, having initially enlisted in 2004. [Photo: KHRG]

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A team of mobile medics from the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) distribute medical supplies to displaced villagers living in hiding from the Burma Army in northern Papun District on August 8th 2008. Displaced villagers in hiding access such mobile medical teams as one means of maintaining their evasion of the military forces that are trying to clear them out of the hills. [Photo: KHRG]

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These photos, taken on August 28th 2007, show the burned remains of Leh Kee village, northern Papun District following an attack by Burma Army forces operating in the area. August lies in the middle of the rainy season during which Burma Army units in Karen State have traditionally taken rest or regrouped at military camps and bases. However, during the past two years, Burma Army troops have been pushed to carry out the offensive against civilians right through the rainy season, despite the natural barriers of water, mud and disease which hinder military operations. [Photo: KHRG]

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After burning down Leh Kee village, the departing soldiers scrawled a message [A-10] on the wall of the burned school, which reads "We didn't want to burn down your village, but we were ordered to. The soldiers [presumably meaning KNLA] and us and brothers." Photo [A-11] shows displaced Leh Kee villagers hiding in the surrounding forest after having fled their homes during the Burma Army attack. [Photos: KHRG]

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The burned remains of Htee Baw Kee village in Papun District of northern Karen State, as photographed on September 1st 2007, following an attack by Burma Army soldiers operating in the area. Civilian communities living in areas outside of SPDC control in Papun District, as well as Toungoo District further north and Nyaunglebin District to the west have faced persistent military attacks since the end of 2005 - start of 2006 as the Burma Army has sought to flush them out of the hills and into military-controlled relocation sites. [Photos: KHRG]

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The Burma Army soldiers who were engaged in the attacks on civilian communities in northern Papun District dropped this red scarf while on patrol. The scarf bears the numbers "114" indicating SPDC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #114. KHRG researchers collected and photographed the scarf on September 3rd 2007. [Photos: KHRG]

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Saw Nah Dtoo [A-18], a resident of Taw Gkoo relocation site, was shot dead on September 20th 2007 by SPDC soldiers for violating military-imposed movement restrictions. The soldiers were under the command of LIB #541 Column #2 commander, Yeh Aung. Saw Nah Dtoo was killed while tending his cardamom and betel nut plantation in his home village of Kher Der Bpee Koh. His family was unable to bury him for over 24 hours while the SPDC soldiers lay in ambush for anyone that came to recover the body. When the SPDC left the area, villagers accompanied by KNLA soldiers for protection, hurriedly buried the corpse [A-19]. Saw Nah Dtoo was 30 years old and left a wife and two children. [Photos: KHRG]

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Displaced children and their families live in the forest as they hide from SPDC forces in Papun District. These children, shown here [A-20 and A-22] in September 2007, have been able to find the means and opportunity to play and smile despite the pervasive insecurity of their situation. For more information on the human rights situation of children, see Growing up under militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State, (KHRG, April 2008). [Photos: KHRG]

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18-year-old Saw H--- (above), formerly lived in Saw Muh Plaw village tract, Lu Thaw township of northern Papun District. When Burma Army soldiers entered into Saw Muh Plaw village tract, Saw H--- and fellow villagers fled to evade the troops. During the flight, however, Saw H--- stepped on a landmine which blew off the lower portion of his left leg. When this photo was taken on September 23rd 2007, Saw H--- remained in hiding in northern Karen State despite the loss of his leg; the mangled portion of which medics were able to successfully amputate. [Photos: KHRG]

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These four villagers [A-25], including 18-year-old Saw H---, shown here on September 24th 2007, all lost the lower sections of one leg in separate incidents when, upon stepping on landmines, the lower part of the limb was blown off. The Burmese-manufactured M-14 landmine which the Burma Army regularly deploys in civilian areas in Karen State is often not fatal to adults but severely mutilates one or both of a victim's legs. For young children and small animals, however, the risk of death from the M-14 landmines is far greater. [Photo: KHRG]

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Photos A-25, A-26, and A-27 show SPDC-deployed M-14 blast landmines photographed in September 2007, which were recovered from Papun District. According to the Landmine Monitor 2007 report, these M-14 landmines are "manufactured by Myanmar Defense Products Industries at Ngyaung Chay Dauk, in Bago division."[1] SPDC forces regularly deploy such landmines along roads, forest paths and within village confines following attacks in order to prevent the return of villagers hoping to reclaim their land and belongings. [Photos: KHRG]

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This boat, photographed on October 4th 2007, came to collect displaced villagers fleeing northern Karen State. Among those getting on board were Saw K--- and his family who fled from Shan See Bo village in Toungoo District - an area controlled by the Burma Army - because of the difficulties faced under the regular demands and restrictions which Burma Army personnel enforce on the local civilian community. The boat departed and headed downstream to bring the villagers to Ee Thoo Hta, a relatively more secure site on the border of Thailand for displaced villagers unwilling or unable to seek refuge within Thailand. [Photos: KHRG]

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The burned remains of Hsaw Wah Der hiding site in Toungoo District are shown here on October 8th 2007 following an attack by SPDC forces operating in the areas. Notice the tipped over and burned rice supplies in photo A-35. The SPDC forces which attacked this hiding site did not immediately continue on with their patrol and so local villagers were not able to quickly return and attend to their farm fields and retrieve personal belongings that may have survived the attack. [Photos: KHRG]

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On October 9th 2007, SPDC soldiers from LIB #217, operating under LID #11 attacked Htee Bla Kee village in Shwegyin township, Nyaunglebin District. At this time the local community fled into the forest in order to avoid the SPDC attack.

Carrying whatever personal belongings they were able to take along when they fled their homes, the villagers travelled through the forest [A-39, A-40, A-41, A-42] on October 10th 2007 in search of a secure spot to rest. Photo A-39 shows villagers carrying an injured individual in a makeshift palanquin. Everyone, including children [A-41], had to help out by carrying supplies.

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Upon arriving at a relatively secure location in the forest the displaced villagers of Htee Bla Kee were able to set up a temporary hiding site [A-43, A-44 and A-45] at which they prepared and ate a meal following their flight from home.

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Pictured below [A-46 and A-47], 55-year-old Naw T---, one of the displaced villagers from Htee Bla Kee village, receives medical treatment on October 12th 2007. Naw T--- had been in her field hut when SPDC soldiers from LIB #217 attacked Htee Bla Kee village on October 8th 2007. Naw T--- managed to escape with her life but severe injuries to her knee and buttocks which she received during the attack mean that at the time these photos were taken, she was unable to walk or even stand.

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During the following days, the villagers from Htee Bla Kee continued to flee through the forest. The women shown here [A-48, A-49 and A-50] on October 15th 2007, travel with their children and personal belongs through the forest on foot. One young woman [A-48] carries her baby slung over her shoulder as she travels. [Photos: KHRG]

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Pictured to the left is 16-year-old Naw Th---, another casualty of the Burma Army's October 9th 2007 attack on Htee Bla Kee village. When the Burma Army fired rifles and shelled Htee Bla Kee village from a distance with mortars, Naw Th--- was struck down. Although suffering injuries to her right arm and left leg Naw Th--- managed to escape with her life. In photo A-51, Naw Th--- recovers on October 19th after having fled through the forest from the SPDC soldiers who shot her. Naw TH--- told KHRG "The SPDC shot me when I was in my hillside farm house... When I was injured I couldn't walk, I just crawled on the ground." [Photos: KHRG]

This villager [A-52] from See Daw Koh village was shot by an SPDC soldier and survived for some time with a bullet remaining in his stomach. However, this bullet caused him much pain and so he sought out a mobile Karen medic to have the bullet surgically removed, as shown here on October 18th 2007. [Photos: KHRG]

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Residents of Lah Koh village of Thaton District doing forced labour in October 2007. The villagers are constructing a vehicle road which connects Bpa Nweh Gklah to the SPDC military camp at Lay Kay. On October 29th 2007, SPDC battalion commander Min Naing Oo of LIB #9, LID #44 ordered Lah Koh villagers to construct the section of the vehicle road between Lah Koh and Gkruh See villages. [Photos: KHRG]

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The residents Gkruh See village, Pa'an township, Thaton District are shown here doing forced labour on October 30th 2007. The villagers are clearing brush and other overgrowth from alongside a vehicle road, as ordered by local SPDC authorities. This type of yearly forced labour (along with road reconstruction) follows the end the rainy season around October. [Photos: KHRG]

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In 2006, SPDC authorities forcibly relocated some of the residents of Shah See Bo, Wah Loh and Kheh Der villages in Toungoo District to Toungoo town in eastern Pegu Division. Following the forced relocation, local authorities enforced heavy restrictions. They barred the villagers from returning to their former homes to tend agricultural fields and also from accessing other arable land closer to the relocation site. As these restrictions were inhibiting their ability to maintain a livelihood, many of them fled in late 2007 (as shown here) with the intention of making their way to a refugee camp in neighbouring Thailand. [Photos: KHRG]

Local SPDC officials at Gkaw Thay Der, Tantabin township in Toungoo District issued these travel permission documents to two resident villagers. The documents allow the villagers to leave the confines of their village for only one week in order to work. Anyone caught outside their village confines without such documents risk arrest and execution. [Photo: KHRG]

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These three videos show villagers engaged in forced labour, cutting back forest growth alongside an SPDC vehicle road in the Gkoo Hsay area of Papun District on November 12th 2007. The order for this labour was issued by SPDC LIB #434 commander Aung Htun Lin. This type of forced labour is a seasonal task which local SPDC authorities impose on villagers living across Karen State and other areas of Burma. SPDC authorities require the clearance of wide swaths of land on either side of roadways in order to more easily spot displaced villagers trying to evade military forces. [Videos: KHRG]

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Villagers, including women and children [A-67] doing forced labour cutting back forest growth alongside a vehicle road in the Gkoo Hsay area, Papun District on November 12th 2007 as ordered by Aung Htun Lin, commander of SPDC LIB #434. November 12th was a Monday and the children shown here were unable to attend classes while they participated in the forced labour. [Photo: KHRG]

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The displaced villagers shown here [A-70, A-71, A-72] on November 14th 2007, fled from Ta Dah Der village, Papun District when they learned that local Burma Army troops were about to order their community to do yet more forced labour tasks. These included clearing brush and forest overgrowth along a 3,000 yard section of a nearby vehicle road. Photo A-73 shows Ta Dah Der village school after the local community had fled. Photo A-74 shows other abandoned buildings in Ta Dah Der village. Evasion is a common strategy which villagers in Karen State employ in order to avoid compliance with exploitative demands in areas under SPDC control. The SPDC has implemented rigid restrictions on movement in areas firmly under military control in order to hamper such attempts at evading demands. [Photos: KHRG]

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