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Fighting in Daw Hpah Hkoh Township
In the afternoon of July 22nd 2024, Shar Htoo Waw Team [‘Polaris Star Team’][2], consisting of combined People’s Defence Force (PDF)[3] and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[4] troops under the command of KNLA Battalion #5 in Brigade #2, ambushed 12 State Administration Council (SAC)[5] military trucks (from Southern Command Headquarters in Toungoo Town) who were returning from Leik Tho army camp in Leik Tho Town, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, Taw Oo District, after transporting food rations. The fighting lasted around three hours. The incident took place on a road between Leik Town and Toungoo Town. According to local PDF soldiers and local villagers, several SAC soldiers were killed and injured in the fighting. One of the SAC military trucks was destroyed. Shar Htoo Waw Team also confiscated seven guns from the SAC soldiers.
Arbitrary arrest of two youngsters
After the fighting [on the evening of July 22nd 2024], SAC soldiers from Kon Nit Maing (7 Miles) army camp in charge of road security arrested two young villagers on a road next to their army camp, while the villagers were travelling on a motorbike to Toungoo Town. Kon Nit Maing (7 Miles) army camp is located beside a road between Toungoo Town and Thandaunggyi Town, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township. After the SAC soldiers arrested the two villagers, they took them to SAC Infantry Battalion (IB)[6] #39 [Lay Maing (4 Miles)] army camp in [the boundary between] Daw Hpah Hkoh Township [and Htaw Ta Htoo Township].
These two [arrested] villagers are Saw[7] A--- (21 years) and Saw B--- (16 years). They are friends. They both are Karen and Christian, from D--- Town, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township. Saw A--- is a displaced villager who was staying in E--- village, Day Loh Mu Nu area, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, before he was arrested. Saw B--- is a displaced villager who stayed in F--- village, Seik Pu Taung village tract,[8] Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, before he was arrested.
Local villagers [who met with Saw A--- and Saw B--- shortly before they were arrested and saw their phones] believe that the SAC arrested these two villagers because they found a picture of Saw B--- wearing camouflage clothes in his phone. Therefore, SAC soldiers [likely] thought these two villagers were PDF members who attacked the SAC military trucks from Southern Command Headquarters on that day.
According to local villagers, Saw A--- and Saw B--- were detained and interrogated in SAC IB #39 army camp. [The villagers believe that] during the interrogation, the SAC beat, hit and tortured Saw A--- and Saw B---, causing them to be very frightened, so whatever the SAC soldiers asked them, they just answered “Yes”. For example, when the SAC asked them whether they were PDF members, they just replied “Yes” [while being tortured], even though they are not PDF members. [According to a villager, who was told by a former SAC officer from IB #39, Saw B--- told the SAC that he was involved in the fighting on July 22nd 2024. Nevertheless, Saw A---’s mother and other local villagers told KHRG that Saw A--- and Saw B--- are not PDF members.]
After the SAC soldiers took Saw A--- and Saw B--- to IB #39 army camp, Saw A---’s parents went to IB #39 army camp [unknown date] in order to see their son [and his friend] as they worried about them. There, they requested to see Saw A--- and Saw B---, but the SAC did not allow seeing them. Saw A---’s parents told a village head of E--- village about what happened to their son and asked him for help in order to release their son. [As of August 2024, the two villagers have not been released and information about their condition or whereabouts has not been provided to their family members].
Further background reading on the situation on arbitrary arrests and torture in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports: