A convoy of junta troops travelling along the Taungoo to Leiktho Road in Karen State’s Thandaunggyi Township set fire to two houses and killed a child in Ahlelchaung (lower) Village.
On 15 June 2025, the junta convoy was travelling towards Leiktho along the road from Taungoo City in Bago Region to Leiktho Town in Karen State when they reached Ahlelchaung (lower) Village, not far from Leiktho Town. There, the soldiers set fire to two houses at a road intersection.
Junta soldiers based in Ahlelchaung (lower) Village and the Leiktho Town-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 603 then fired artillery along the route where the convoy was due to travel to clear the road. A father and his five-year-old son were hit by the shelling. The child was killed instantly.
A resident of Leiktho Town said: “At the intersection near Ahlelchaung Village, soldiers set two houses on fire, reducing them completely to ashes. The owners managed to escape. Afterwards, the junta fired artillery to clear the road for their convoy. A father, piggybacking his son as they tried to flee, was struck by the shelling. The boy died instantly, and the father was wounded in the chest.”
Due to the security situation on the road it has been impossible to take the father to Taungoo City General Hospital, so he is receiving emergency treatment at the hospital in Leiktho Town, according to sources close to the matter.
The junta has reinforced its presence in this border area between Bago Region and Karen State. Its soldiers have been going up and down along the section of road that goes from the Yedashe Town to Taungoo Town, both in Bago Region, and on to Thandaung and Leiktho towns in Karen State.
Soldiers have been entering villages along the road and staying without permission in houses belonging to villagers who have fled and stealing and destroying their property, according to Karen National Union (KNU) sources from Taungoo District and Thandaunggyi Township.
In April 2025, junta troops entered Tharmoetaung Village near Leiktho Town and burned down the village church along with several houses.
