God's Army (ဘုရားသခင်၏ တပ်မတော်)

God's Army (Burmese: ဘုရားသခင်၏ တပ်မတော်), or Kaserdoh God's Army (ကစဲဒိုးဘုရားသခင်တပ်မတော်), was an ethnic Karen (ကရင်လူမျိုး) Christian-based guerrilla movement active from 1997 to 2001 that was centered around the juvenile twins Johnny "Bu Joh" and Luther "Bu Lu" Htoo (b. 1988) and Soon Lim Dam, also known as Black Tongue, all of whom were variously believed to possess mystical powers, including protection against bullets and landmines, command over thousands of invisible soldiers, among other abilities. Many of the group's fighters were likewise child soldiers, though the actual direction of the group was reportedly orchestrated by the adult fighters.

The group's most well-publicised action was the brief seizure of the Ratchaburi Hospital (Thai: โรงพยาบาลราชบุรี) in the Ratchaburi Province of Thailand, 96.5 km (60 miles) southwest of Bangkok, during January 2000. By the following year, the Htoo twins and many of their followers had surrendered to Thai authorities, effectively bringing their movement to an end.

Press Coverage

• Richburg, Keith B. (24 Jan. 2000), "Child Terrorists Hold Hundreds Hostage in Thailand", Washington Post (washingtonpost.com), https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/pmextra/jan00/24/hostage.htm 
• Aglionby, John (25 Jan. 2000), "God's Army holds hundreds hostage: 12-year-olds' fighters seize hospital in protest against Burma regime", The Guardian (theguardian.com), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/25/burma 
• Mydans, Seth (10 Apr. 2000), "Burmese Rebel Chief More Boy Than Warrior", New York Times (nytimes.com), https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/10/world/burmese-rebel-chief-more-boy-than-warrior.html