The junta killed and arrested several residents who had been displaced and recently returned to their homes in Kyondoe Town, in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township.
Junta troops targeted the returning residents in late May. Five to ten of them have been arrested and at least one, Saw Myo Htwe Aung, has been murdered by the junta whilst in custody, according to residents of Kyondoe Town.
On 28 May 2025, Saw Myo Htwe Aung, also known as Ko Pyoo, a young resident of Kyondoe Town, was arrested by junta forces shortly after returning to the town.
He was never released and killed by the junta whilst in custody, according to a local who also said that three other young people who had been returning to North Kayinsu Ward in Kyondoe Town were also arrested on 29 May and remain in custody.
He said: “Amongst those returning to Kyondoe [Town], three people were arrested in North Kayinsu Ward on 29 May. Just a day earlier, on 28 May, a young man, Saw Aung Myo Htwe aka Ko Pyoo, was taken by soldiers in Meeponsu Ward and tortured to death. His family still hasn’t received his body. Soldiers often stop people coming back to Kyondoe from areas around the Gyaing River and carry out strict checks, including going through their phones. In the past few days, the number of arrests has been anywhere from five to ten.”
Currently, the junta holds Kyondoe Town and a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)-led coalition holds the area around the town and is keeping the junta forces blockaded in the town. Both sides are attacking each other from a distance using snipers and artillery.
A frontline resistance force said: “The KNLA fired improvised rockets and snipers targeted junta positions, killing a junta captain in Yathaekyaung Ward in Kyondoe [Town]. On 27 May one of the KNLA’s rockets hit an artillery battery set up by the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 545, it killed a major and five soldiers from the artillery and drone unit, and injured another three. Then, on 29 May a drone strike wounded two more junta troops.”
In recent days junta forces based in Kyondoe Town have been carrying out near daily artillery strikes and drone attacks on surrounding villages.
