"Since June 2021, Burma Army troops have intensified shelling and persecution of civilians in Mutraw (Hpapun) District of northern Karen State, in retaliation for increased KNU guerrilla attacks, which are blocking the regime’s supply routes and eroding their pockets of control in this mountainous border area. Most of the shelling has taken place in southern Mutraw, along the main access road from Kamamaung on the Salween River to Hpapun town, where the regime’s bases are centred. Shelling was heaviest in September, with dozens of shells fired nearly every day. Shells were fired indiscriminately into villages and fields, causing civilian injuries and damage to property, but failing to hit any military targets. Unable to retaliate directly against their guerrilla assailants, regime troops have increasingly targeted villagers for collective punishment: looting and destroying property, arbitrarily arresting men and women, and using them as porters and human shields. The regime’s shelling and terror tactics have caused new displacement in southern Mutraw, bringing IDP totals to over 82,000 in the district – almost the entire rural population. Most of the IDPs remain sheltering in the jungle, not daring return home in case of renewed airstrikes after the rains. Unable to plant their rice-fields this year, they are in urgent need of food aid. Yet the regime’s areas of control are shrinking. KNU blockades and attacks have forced the Burma Army to abandon eleven of their camps in Mutraw since the coup. Morale is low and dozens of the regime’s troops have recently deserted. Deserters interviewed by KPSN say most troops want to leave the army, and are no longer obeying orders. At this critical time, with resistance mounting across the country, KPSN urges the international community to stand with the people of Burma, and cut off all diplomatic and economic support for the illegitimate coup regime. KPSN also urges foreign donors to immediately scale up cross-border humanitarian aid to IDPs in Karen State and other conflict-affected areas of Burma. Burma Army steps up shelling in response to increased KNU guerrilla attacks In KPSN’s May 2021 briefer “Terror from the Skies”, we provided a background of the Burma Army’s decades-long attempts to crush the KNU in Mutraw District. Even after the KNU’s 2012 ceasefire, the Burma Army set up new bases in Mutraw, and started building new access roads for quick deployment of troops and military supplies. In 2020, the Burma Army stepped up artillery attacks, causing the Karen National Liberation Army to issue an ultimatum on December 1, 2020, for the Burma Army to withdraw all its bases from KNU-controlled areas and dismantle all camps set up since the NCA by the end of 2020. When the ultimatum was ignored, the KNU tightened its blockade of access routes into Mutraw, and in March 2021, after the military coup, began attacking and capturing Burma Army camps. The Burma Army retaliated not only with renewed shelling, but with airstrikes – the first in the area for over 25 years. This caused mass displacement of over 70,000 villagers, mostly into the jungle. Thousands fled across the Salween River to Thailand, but were pushed back within days by the Thai authorities. The regime’s fierce air and ground assaults only galvanized the KNU to step up guerrilla attacks against Burma Army bases and supply lines in Mutraw. Since June, the KNU has mainly targeted the main access road leading from Kamamaung in the south to Hpapun town, where the regime’s bases are centred. In an attempt to deter the KNU attacks, the Burma Army has fired hundreds of artillery shells and sprayed gunfire from its bases into surrounding civilian areas. Shells landed in villages and surrounding farmlands, damaging houses, property and livestock, and injuring at least eight villagers, including a monk. Gunfire also killed one villager. However, the shelling failed to hit any KNU military targets. Increased Burma Army looting and vandalizing of villagers’ property Since June 2021, KPSN has documented numerous incidents of looting across Mutraw by Burma Army troops, mainly of villagers’ livestock and food supplies, but also clothes, tools, phones, solar panels and cash. One likely factor for the frequent looting is food shortages caused by the KNU blockade of supply lines. In a well-publicized incident on October 12, 2021, twelve Burma Army soldiers from LIB 404, based at Kyauk Nyat on the Salween river, looted food from a Thai boat transporting goods along the river. Kyauk Nyat is one of the last remaining military outposts on Mutraw’s northeast river border and the troops there had apparently run out of rice rations. The troops fired shots to force the boat to stop, and demanded rice. As the boat was not carrying rice, the troops instead looted chickens, vegetables and dried noodles. However, another factor is clearly retaliation for losses inflicted by the KNU, as Burma Army troops have not only looted, but also deliberately vandalized and destroyed villagers’ property. For example, after suffering heavy casualties in early September during clashes around Mae Wai, on the main supply route to Hpapun town, the regime troops looted and vandalized all the villagers’ property in Khaw Poe Khee, Mae Wai tract. A woman from Khaw Poe Khee interviewed by KPSN, who had fled during the fighting, described the damage she found when she returned home a month later. “Things were scattered all over the house. There were holes made in some pots and some were thrown to different places. They took all my rice and cooking oil. After cooking and eating in the house, they defecated in the pots and plates. They used our blankets, mosquito nets and clothes for cleaning, then threw them in the pond and mud.” Arbitrary arrest, torture, use of human shields Another form of collective punishment used by the Burma Army troops has been arbitrary arrest and torture of villagers, and use of men and women as human shields. On August 12, troops from LIB 407 based at Ma Htaw, on the main road south of Hpapun, arrested three male villagers from Ma Htaw, aged 25, 34 and 45, and beat them with guns. On August 19, troops from LIB 341 and LIB 401, entered Ter Kee Koh village, northeast of Hpapun, and arrested three elderly male villagers, aged 42, 56 and 65, who were on their way to their farms. They were kicked and hit in the head, and then forced to porter and serve as human shields for the troops..."