SAC indiscriminate shelling and impacts on communities
According to local villagers, on the morning of January 16th 2023, soldiers from the State Administration Council (SAC)[2] Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[3] #598 were patrolling in A--- village, Win Kan village tract[4], Kyeh Htoh (Kyaikto) Township, Doo Tha Doo (Thaton) District. The LIB #598 is based in Shwegyi [Town], Hsaw Htee (Shwegyi) Township, Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District. A--- village is located in a Karen National Union (KNU)[5] controlled area. There are two Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[6] checkpoints near the village. The SAC also operates in the village and there are many SAC army camps surrounding the village.
On January 16th 2023, at around 8:00 am, SAC LIB #598 attacked a KNLA security checkpoint near A--- village. Then, the fighting happened [and lasted for approximately an hour]. Five minutes after the fighting, at around 9:00 am, SAC LIB #598 indiscriminately fired five or six rounds of 40 mm mortar shells into A--- village. Three mortars landed in the village and exploded. As a result, three houses were damaged. These three houses were owned by local villagers named Ma[7] C---, U[8] D--- and U E---. However, no villager was hit and injured by the shelling because they already fled from their village when they first heard the sound of gunfire during the fighting.
The displaced villagers fled to neighbouring villages such as F--- village, G--- village, H--- village and I--- village in Kyeh Htoh Township. Some villagers fled to their hill plantations. There are more than 1,350 villagers in A--- village. About 1,300 villagers fled from their village. Only a few elder villagers stayed in the village. The displaced villagers faced food shortages during displacement. They also faced difficulty in accessing healthcare services. Daw[9] J---, a displaced female villager from A--- village, reported: “There are clinics and hospitals in Thein Za Yet Town [Kyeh Htoh Township] but it is far from our place. We cannot travel easily to the town at night [to access healthcare services] because it is not safe to travel. We cannot do anything [treat illnesses] as we do not have medicine. We just have to suffer [from sickness].”
The shelling also impacted villagers’ livelihoods. Daw J--- added: “It is very dangerous for villagers because SAC [soldiers] fired mortar shells in the area. As the SAC fires mortar shells, villagers are afraid to go to their workplace. As we have to flee, we don’t have time to work for our livelihood. Villagers are very afraid that mortars will land in their villages.” Daw K---, another female villager from A--- village, reported: “We cannot work freely for our livelihood. We always worry about when the fighting will happen and when the shelling will happen. We are afraid to go out. We worry and we are afraid. We cannot sleep well. We worry about having to flee again.”
Some villagers [of A--- village] fled to F--- village, Kyeh Htoh Township. [After they arrived,] SAC soldiers from Waw Township, Bago Division, indiscriminately fired mortar shells near F--- village. Therefore, villagers [from A--- village] who were displaced to F--- village had to flee again [alongside F--- villagers]. Villagers said that no humanitarian organisation came to provide aid to those displaced villagers. During the reporting period, most of the displaced villagers did not return to their villages due to the unstable situation and indiscriminate shelling.
SAC burned down one house and two buildings owned by local villagers
On the evening of January 21st 2023, SAC soldiers burned down one house and two buildings in B--- village, Zee Pyaung village tract, Kyeh Htoh Township, Doo Tha Htoo District.
According to local villagers, on January 21st 2023, around 50 SAC soldiers from LIB #207 conducted their military activities in Wah Dat Kwin place, near LIB #207 army camp [located about thirty minutes away from B--- village on foot]. On that day, they [SAC] blocked the road that goes to the KNU-controlled area, stopped cars and motorbikes on that road and did not let anyone travel around. They [SAC soldiers] stopped car and motorbike drivers who travelled between Win Kan village tract and Zee Pyaung village tract, and confiscated villagers’ phones.
On the same day, at around 3:00 pm, about 60 SAC soldiers travelled from Wat Dat Kwin place to B--- village and they started to conduct their military operations in that area. When they [SAC] launched their military operations, some soldiers from LIB #207 [stayed behind, in Wat Dat Kwin place and] fired mortar shells in the area in order to help their soldiers [who were travelling to B--- village]. The mortar shells landed near B--- village and exploded. There is a KNLA checkpoint in B--- village. People’s Defence Force (PDF)[10] members also stayed together with KNLA soldiers at the checkpoint. The SAC launched its military operation in that area in order to destroy the [KNLA] checkpoint.
When the SAC soldiers arrived at B--- village, LIB #207 [soldiers who stayed behind] stopped firing mortar shells and sent their troops to B--- village in order to help the SAC soldiers as reinforcement. At 4:30 pm, [a total of] around 100 SAC soldiers burned down a house nearby the KNLA checkpoint. They recorded what they did to the house by taking pictures. The house is owned by U L---, a villager from M--- village, Zee Pyaung village tract. They also burned down a firewood storage hut [a shed to store firewood] and a goat farm [a building where local villagers keep their goats] near U L---’s house. The value of U L---’s house was about 20,000,000 kyats [USD 9,523.80][11]. The SAC left the village after they burned down the house and the other two buildings. Local villagers believed that the SAC burned the villager’s house because they thought that it was a house belonging to PDF members.
The SAC burned down villagers’ houses two times in Kyeh Htoh Township before this incident. This was the third time that they burned down houses and buildings owned by villagers. In October 2022, the SAC burned down houses in N--- village and O--- village, Pyi K’Doe village tract, Kyeh Htoh Township. In total, 17 houses from these two villages were burned down to ashes [in the previous two incidents].
Further background reading on the security and human rights situation in Doo Tha Htoo District in Southeast Burma can be found in the following KHRG reports: