Junta Bombs Hpa-An Township Hospital

Fortunately no one was killed or injured in the airstrike as the hospital was empty, because the hospital had closed due to previous junta attacks.

A resident of Hpalaungtaung Village said to KIC: “The bombing occurred around 11:20 pm. I also heard what seemed like a series of gunshots after the explosion. The bomb hit the hospital, which is located right next to the main road. Fortunately, there was no one inside at the time. The patient wards and clinics were most affected, with some damage to the monk wards and the staff quarters as well.”

The 16-bed Hpalaungtaung Village Hospital was constructed by the civilian National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s Ministry of Health and Sports during 2018 and 2019.

Following the February 2021 military coup, health workers who joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and refused to work for the junta came to the hospital to provide care for patients there. The village hospital was, and still is, not under junta control because it is in an area mainly controlled by the Karen National Union’s (KNU’s) Brigade 1.

Unfortunately, soon after the coup, in November 2021, members of the junta-affiliated Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) ransacked the hospital and destroyed equipment, forcing both health workers and patients to flee. They returned in early 2022 but after an increase in junta artillery attacks on the hospital it was closed in November 2022 and has been ever since.

Brigadier General Saw Soe Myint Htwe, the commander of the KNU Brigade 1 said: “Soon after the coup, the hospital’s director and all the staff decided to join the CDM. The staff continued to run the hospital, but once the junta’s targeted shelling increased, no one stayed there anymore. By the time of the airstrike, the hospital was completely empty.”

After the coup many hospitals and clinics in Thaton District were closed. This meant that Hpalaungtaung Village Hospital was an important healthcare facility for people living in the area. Residents of Hpapun District also came to use the hospital.

Previously, on 19 April 2025, also in Thaton District where the Hpalaungtaung Village Hospital is located, the junta bombed a monastery in Bilin Township’s Minsaw Village. This forced residents of Minsin and other surrounding villages to flee the area. Of those that fled, approximately 2,000 have not yet dared to return home.

According to data collected by the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP) as of March 2025 there are approximately 140,000 displaced people sheltering in Thaton District.