Due to ongoing security difficulties, farming families in the Kamaing area have
frequently experienced disappearances and deaths while travelling to their fields.
In villages along the Kamaing–Hpakant road, where armed groups are active,
residents face severe security and political difficulties while trying to carry out
farming and cultivation, especially during harvest seasons.
According to family members, this incident began on November 6, 2025, when he
went from home to his farmland and went missing. After about nine days without
his return, the family began investigations. With deep concern, family members
and church elders searched the farmland area and reportedly found evidence that
military forces had searched and ransacked a hut on the farm.
After the military coup, the military intensified actions that promoted
ethnic and religious hatred in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State. The
junta organized local Shanni militias and targeted Kachin ethnic
minorities and Kachin Christians in the town through arrests,
killings, and intimidation based on ethnicity and religion.
Under the direction of Northern Regional Military Command commander Major
General Aung Zaw Htwe and Kachin State Security and Border Affairs Minister
Colonel Kyaw Thu Ya, the military reportedly gave strong support and authority
to local Shanni militias. Many killings and arrests have occurred in Mohnyin
Township. Rising tensions and militia-related military activities have left local
people facing significant difficulties and security challenges. Kachin villages and
Aung Thapyay Ward in Mohnyin Township were accused of supporting the KIA,
and many local residents were arrested in various ways.
During a Catholic worship service, three young men in civilian clothes entered the
church while the priest was preaching during Mass. One of the attackers shot him
in the face, twice in the abdomen, once in the right arm, and once directly through
the mouth area. The bullet passed through his mouth, breaking four upper teeth,
five lower teeth, and his jawbone. The attackers also threatened church members
with weapons and warned them not to shout or speak, saying they would shoot
everyone. According to witnesses, the three armed young men were members of
the local Shanni militia.
The attack was seen as a deliberate act targeting the Roman Catholic priest serving
in Mohnyin Township during a religious service. The incident was viewed as an act
connected to ethnic and religious discrimination and violence carried out by local
18 | "Inhumane Acts" by KHRW