DKBA forced villagers to transport soldiers and goods

After the military coup in February 2021[2], the KNLA [Karen National Liberation Army][3] and the  PDF [People’s Defence Force][4] destroyed Da Li’s bridge that was located in between Kyainseikgyi Town [also known locally as Seik Gyi Town], Noh T’Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Township, Dooplaya District, and Ac--- village, [no village tract[5]], Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District, to cut off the [transportation] connection between Burma Army[6] soldiers. Therefore, Burma Army soldiers could no longer use this bridge for travel. This bridge was very important for Burma Army soldiers who live in Chaung N’Hkwar army camp to connect with soldiers who live in Kyainseikgyi Town army camp. As the Burma military regime planned to hold an election[7] in December 2025, they tried in many ways to regain control of the bridge [so that they could repair and use it]. In December 2025, the Burma Army worked with Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)[8] Lieutenant Naik Klat, and deployed more troops, so they regained control of the Da Li Bridge and the road from Kyainseikgyi Town. 

On 10 December 2025, at around 8 am, DKBA soldiers under the control of Lieutenant Naik Klat forced a villager named A---, from Aa--- village, Da Li village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, to transport rations for Burma Army soldiers from Ac--- village to Da Li Bridge [with his personal vehicle]. [Details censored for security.] The DKBA forced A--- to transport the rations two times. The first time [previously, on an unknown date], A--- had to transport around 100 sacks of rice (50 kg each). A--- was worried that the DKBA soldiers would force him to transport rations again, so he hid his truck. However, the DKBA soldiers forced him to transport the rations again [on 10 December]. A--- stated: “The second time, they were also DKBA soldiers who asked [forced] me to go. I told them I was afraid to go. They said nothing would happen, and [they] would take the responsibility. I told them: ‘You can take my truck, but I am not going to follow you.’ Yet, a DKBA soldier said: ‘No, I will not take it [the truck]. You have to drive by yourself. I don’t know how to drive.’”

A--- drove DKBA soldiers to Ac--- village. When he arrived at the village, he was forced to transport around 30 Burma Army soldiers instead of rations. On 10 December 2025, at around 10 am, the KNLA, combined with PDF soldiers, attacked them with gun fire and a previously-planted tripwire mine [that the KNLA/PDF could trigger to detonate] on their way to Da Li Bridge. Due to the attack, his truck was burned, and some of the Burma Army soldiers were killed and injured. A--- added: “At first, I heard a sound like ‘Oooo.’ I heard the sound of gun firing one to two rounds. When I turned around, I saw that the truck was on fire. I planned to jump out of the truck, but a DKBA soldier ordered me to keep driving. I jumped out of the truck when we reached Da Li Bridge, after about one minute of driving. The truck then caught fire completely and exploded.” [A--- was not injured by the incident.]

A--- purchased his truck for 80,000,000 kyats (approximately 38,100 USD[9]) and relied on it to support his family. As he was a driver, after his truck was burned and destroyed, he faced difficulties in continuing his livelihood activities to support his family. A--- went to see Lieutenant Naik Klat, but he did not meet with him. A--- met with one of the DKBA soldiers, and the soldier told him that the case regarding the truck burning had already been reported to the leaders. However, as of January 2026, A--- had not received any response from the DKBA soldiers. 

Burma Army shelling caused damage to a house and a plantation

On 6 January 2026, the KNLA combined forces [with the PDF], attacked the [Burma Army] Infantry Battalion (IB)[10] #32 located in the Burma Army control area in Noh T’Kaw Township. At around 11 am, the Burma Army soldiers indiscriminately fired 81 mm and 120 mm mortar shells into the villages near their area. The mortar shells landed in Ab--- village and Ad--- village, Noh T’Kaw village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township. These two villages are located close to each other under the Karen National Union (KNU)[11] administration. One of the mortar shells landed behind the house of Naw[12] B--- (38 years old) in Ab--- village, damaging the roof of the house and several coconut trees and betel nut trees.

Naw B---, from Ab--- village, explained to KHRG: “The first shell landed next to my house, and the shrapnel spread [but did not damage the house]. The second shell landed in my house compound. I was cutting dried fish when the first shell landed. At first, my mother stayed in the house. However, she said the shell landed very close, so she went down from the house and stayed under the house. I thought that the shell would not come again, so I went to the kitchen to fry the fish. Then, I heard the sound of another shell being fired. I was not sure where that shell would land, so I planned to go down from the house. Before I arrived at the door of the house, the shell landed. I felt like I was deaf. I told my mother that I was deaf. I thought that I would have been injured by the shrapnel if I had not gone down from the house.” [Naw B--- did not need to seek medical treatment following the incident.]

Villagers protested against the junta's election

On 9 January 2026, at 9 am, villagers and young people from all four townships in [Dooplaya] District held protests in several places. In Noh T’Kaw (Kyainseikgyi) Township, the villagers held a protest in four different places [in Noh Taw Plah village tract, Noh T’Kaw village tract, Wah Ma village tract, and Lay Wah Ploe village tract] against the election [second phase and third phase] that the SAC [State Administration Council[13], now referred to as Burma military regime] would hold in January 2026 [on the 11th and 25th]. Therefore, at 9 am, a total of around 600 people from two village tracts, Noh T’Kaw and Noh Taw Plah village tracts, held a protest on the road along the Noh Taw Plah village. During the protest, they [the villagers] had mentioned six calls [against the election]. They are:

1. We do not need a government that tortures and kills civilians;
2. We do not want the sham election held by the military regime;
3. We do not want military regimes and ethnocentrism;
4. It is our right to build multiracial unity;
5. It is our right to build a Kawthoolei[14] government; and
6. Do not give votes to the war dog’s [military regime’s] exit [strategy, to be perceived as legitimate instead of a dictatorship] of 2026 and protest against it.

They protested for one hour and were calling for these issues.

According to a local [KNU] leader named Saw[15] C---, the Burma Army planned to hold the third phase of the election in Noh T’Kaw Township on 25 January 2026. There were six polling stations in [Kyainseikgyi] town, and three polling stations in the villages outside the town, in Noh T’Kaw Township. The polling stations were located in Ther Ter village and Kya Inn village, Noh T’Kaw village tract, and May K’Lah Kone village, Kyaw Kay Hkoh village tract. Saw C--- also stated that it was not only the Karen people but also the Bamar people who rejected this sham election. The villagers eagerly participated in the protest. A village secretary named Saw D--- from Af--- village, Meh Pra village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township, who participated in the protest stated: “No one forced us to join the protest. We joined the protest because we did not accept it [the sham election].”

Further background reading on the situation in Dooplaya District in Southeast Burma/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.
• Community spaces under fire : Attacks and destruction of community buildings and cultural events in Southeast Burma by the State Administration Council (SAC) (January - June 2025), August 2025.
• “Dooplaya District Incident Report: Burma Army shelling injured a villager in Noh T’Kaw Township (December 2025)”, March 2026.