Junta shellings, airstrikes, extrajudicial killings, beatings and gang rapes have killed five villagers and injured another nine in Kutkhai and Muse townships, in northern Shan State.

The attacks happened between 24 July and 2 August, according to a report by the Shan Human Rights Association, which said that the junta soldiers had also tried to cover up their atrocities.

They did this by putting the bodies of men they had murdered into Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) uniforms and threatened to shell a village if villagers told about the gang rapes junta soldiers had committed there.

On 24 July, even though there was no fighting in the area at the time, junta troops from Infantry Battalion (IB) 123 based at Namphakka, in Kutkhai Township, indiscriminately shelled Koong Mai Soong Village, in Namphakka Village Tract, hitting one house and burning it down.

On the morning of 25 July, the junta launched an airstrike on Hsai Khao Village, in Muse township. An aerial missile hit one house in Hsai Khao Village and killed U Ai Lao, aged 40, and injured his wife in her legs. That evening, about ten junta troops from Kutkhai-based IB 241 went to U Ai Lao’s house and found his father with the corpse. They beat the father and took away the corpse. Later, the family then went to ask for the corpse at the IB 241 base, but the soldiers refused to hand it over.

On the evening of 25 July, Duja (aged 25) and Brang Aung (aged 27) from the Kachin Baptist Church in Dima Village, in Muse township were travelling by car to their village when they were arrested by junta troops from LIB 569 (under Military Operations Command 17 in Southern Shan State) and taken to a junta hilltop base near Nam Oom Village. There, a local militia group witnessed the junta troops beating the two young men and shooting them dead.

On 26 July, photos were posted on social media by junta soldiers of the corpses of Duja, Brang Aung and U Ai Lao (who had been killed by the airstrike) in military uniforms, claiming that they had killed three TNLA soldiers.

On 31 July, Dima villagers searching for Duja and Brang Aung found their charred remains in the forest southwest of Nam Oom Village, with their original clothes strewn nearby. They also found the corpse of U Ai Lao buried not far away, still in a military uniform.

On 29 July, the junta’s IB 123 based in Namphakka, indiscriminately fired shells into Loi Koong Village from afternoon to evening. At 9:45 pm, a shell hit one house in Loi Koong, killing a 60-year-old woman, Daw Aye Ai, and injuring a 40-year-old woman, Daw Aye Wan, and a 15-year-old girl, Lway Pa Pa Win.

On 29 July in the evening, junta troops from Kutkhai-based IB 242 entered Mann Nawng Village, in Kutkhai township, bringing with them two male villagers. The troops went to Mann Nawng temple, and were seen shooting dead one of the two villagers in the temple compound. They then took away the corpse with them that night into the forest west of the village, returning the way they had come.

On the morning of 30 July, a column of junta troops from LIB 569 arrived in Suan Long Village, which is on the Muse to Mandalay highway in Kutkhai Township and stationed themselves in a nearby sugar farm and the village temple.

That night at around 10 pm, four of the junta soldiers went to Suan Long Village, and separated into two groups of two. One pair of soldiers entered the house belonging to Ai Sai (pseudonym) and his wife Nang Lao (pseudonym). They pointed a gun at Ai Sai, handcuffed his hands behind his back and took him to Nang Lao.

The soldiers then groped Nang Lao’s chest and both raped her while her husband was crying and begging them to stop. Due to Ai Sai’s loud cries, people in neighbouring houses woke up. The SAC troops then beat Ai Sai, removed his handcuffs and left the house. Nang Lao is 20 years old and three months pregnant.

Meanwhile, the other two junta troops went to the house of Sai Maung (pseudonym) and his wife Nang Tuay (pseudonym) on the outskirts of Suan Long Village.

They pointed their guns at Sai Maung and two of their children and told Sai Maung, “If you do not want your children to die, take them and leave the house. If you tell other villagers, we will burn down your house.” Sai Maung took his two children and left the house.

Then the two soldiers pointed a gun at Nang Tuay and raped her one by one, after which they left the village.

The next morning, fellow villagers reported the incidents to the local abbot, who called the junta column leader to the temple. The column leader then called Nang Tuay and Nang Lao and asked them to point out the soldiers who had raped them. The rapists were then beaten in front of the public gathered at the temple, before being taken away.

The junta troops then threatened the elders of the village, saying that they would shell the village if the rape cases were reported to media agencies.

On 29 July, there was heavy fighting between junta troops and the TNLA near Selan Village in Muse township.

On the morning of 2 August, the TNLA attacked about 100 junta troops from Muse Town at Tong Khan Tai (Tong Khan south) near the 105 Mile Trade Zone. There was heavy fighting, then the junta artillery unit stationed at the 105 Mile base began firing indiscriminately. One shell landed on a house in 105 Mile Village and injured a villager.

The fighting also caused about 20 Tong Khan villagers to flee and take shelter at the Kachin Baptist Church in Nam Oom Village.

Also on the morning of 2 August at Loi Tay Mong Mountain near Selan Village in Muse Township, there was further fighting between the TNLA and junta troops from the Pekhon-based Military Operations Command 7. After the fighting the TNLA soldiers stationed themselves at Loi Tay Mong Mountain.

At noon on 2 August, the junta artillery stationed at the 105 Mile base started continuously firing mortar rounds into Salan Village, damaging six houses and injuring a nine-year-old child and a woman.

The continuous mortar fire caused about 40 villagers to flee and take refuge at the Loi Tay Mong meditation retreat temple whilst others fled to stay with relatives in Namkham Town.

Selan Village was formerly the capital of the Tai Mao Kingdom, and the birthplace of Sao Nang Mawn La, the famous Mao princess who married King Anawrahta, the founder of the Bagan Empire in the 11th Century. Ancient stone ruins still remain from the time of Sao Sur Khan Fa, the famous Mao monarch who ruled in the 14th Century.