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Print:This Incident Report describes two events that occurred in Kaw T’Ree (Kawkareik) Township, Dooplaya District, in November and December 2023. On November 4th 2023, State Administration Council (SAC) conducted an air strike into E--- section in Kawkareik Town, Kaw T’Ree Township, and injured an 11-year-old boy, Saw A---, on the leg, while he was near his house. The boy was immediately sent to a hospital in Hpa-an Town by his parents to receive treatment, and later transferred to C--- clinic, Naw Kwaw village tract, Ta Kreh (Paingkyon) Township, Hpa-an District. On December 2nd 2023, at 8 am, the SAC dropped a 500-pound bomb into F--- section in Kawkareik Town, Kaw T’Ree Township. The bomb injured a pregnant villager named Ma B---. Her husband sent her to D--- clinic, in Nabu [T’Nay Cha] Township, Hpa-an District, but she was referred to C--- clinic, Naw Kwaw village tract, as this clinic was better equipped to treat her.[1]
Part 1 – Incident Details
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Type of Incident |
Air strike |
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Date of Incident(s) |
November 4th 2023 and December 2nd 2023 |
|
Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
E--- section and F--- section, in Kawkareik Town, Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District. |
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Victim Information |
||
|
Name |
Saw[2] A--- |
Ma[3] B--- |
|
Age |
11 years old |
32 years old |
|
Gender |
Man |
Woman |
|
Ethnicity |
Karen |
Muslim[4] |
|
Marital Status |
- |
Married |
|
Occupation |
Student |
Daily labourer |
|
Religion |
Buddhist |
Muslim |
|
Position |
Villager |
Villager |
|
Village |
Kawkareik Town (E--- section), Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District |
Kawkareik Town (F--- section), Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District |
|
Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors) |
||||
|
Name(s) |
Rank |
Unit |
Base |
Commander’s Name |
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Part 2 - Information Quality
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1. Explain in detail how this information was collected. |
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[The field researcher first heard about this incident from a health worker in C--- clinic, located in Naw Kwaw village tract,[5] Ta Kreh (Paingkyon) Township, Hpa-an District.] On December 3rd 2023, [a KHRG field researcher] went to the area [clinic where the victims were receiving treatment] and conducted interviews with the victims [Saw A---’s mother and Ma B---] to receive detailed information. |
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2. Explain how the source verified this information. |
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[The KHRG researcher] interviewed Saw A---’s mother about her son’s incident. [The KHRG researcher] interviewed Ma B--- about the incident. |
Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident
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Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. |
|
On November 4th 2023 [in the morning], fighting broke out between State Administration Council (SAC)[6] soldiers [unknown battalion] against combined forces from People’s Defence Force (PDF)[7] and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[8] in Kawkareik Town, Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District. At around 10 am, the SAC conducted an air strike [and one bomb landed] inside E--- section, Kawkareik Town. [At the time,] Saw A--- (11 years old), a Grade-3 [primary school] boy, was with his grandmother [in their house in E--- section], and went outside of the house to urinate. While he was urinating, he was hit by shrapnel [from a bomb] on the right calf. His grandmother heard him being wounded by the shrapnel and immediately called his parents, who sent him [by car] to a hospital in Hpa-an Town, Hpa-an District [located one hour away] to receive treatment. When he reached the hospital, he had very low blood pressure [due to blood loss], thus it could not be predicted whether he would live or not. Saw A--- received treatment on time and was saved. [His parents paid for the treatment themselves, and did not receive assistance from any organisations]. By November 30th 2023, his wound was not fully healed, so he received further treatment at C--- clinic, in Naw Kwaw village tract, Ta Kreh (Paingkyon) Township, Hpa-an District. [C--- clinic is under the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW)[9], so treatment was free of charge.] Regarding the incident, his mother expressed: “In this political situation, it is not convenient to work. Our financial situation is becoming more difficult. It’s really sad to witness my son experience it [the attack].”
On December 2nd 2023, at 8 am, the SAC conducted an air strike into F--- section in Kawkareik Town, Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District. The shrapnel [from the dropped bomb] injured Ma B---, a woman nine months pregnant, on the left side of her back. At the time, she was gathering things inside her house to flee [as villagers could hear the sound of aircraft approaching them]. Her husband witnessed what happened to his wife, as he was on his motorbike and had just started the engine. He immediately sent his wife to D--- clinic, Meh Pah Leh village tract, Nabu [T’Nay Cha] Township, Hpa-an District. It was hard to perform surgery on a woman who was nine months pregnant, so at 10 am she was referred to C--- clinic, Naw Kwee village tract, [which is better equipped]. Regarding the incident, Ma B--- expressed: “A 500-pound bomb, dropped from the aircraft, injured villagers. And I don’t know how many were killed by it. I don’t want to put the blame on anyone when such things happen. But for certain, I’m very sad and feel bad about the incident.” |
Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details
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Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided. |
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Saw A---’s mother and Ma B--- gave permission to KHRG to publish the information regarding the human rights violations caused by the SAC air strikes. |
Further background reading on the situation on air strikes in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports:
- “Taw Oo District Short Update: Shelling, air strikes and house burning by SAC troops, and use of forced navigators by PDF soldiers in Htaw Ta Htoo Township (November to December 2023)”, April 2024;
- “Taw Oo District Short Update: House burning, indiscriminate shelling and air strikes by the SAC in Htaw Ta Htoo Township (September to November 2023)”, March 2024;
- “Mu Traw District Situation Update: SAC air strikes, arrest of villagers, and indiscriminate shelling causing casualties, and landmine explosion, March 2022 to February 2023”, January 2024.
These two photos were taken in December 2023, at C--- clinic, Naw Hkwee village tract, Ta Kreh (Paingkyon) Township, Hpa-an District. The photo on the left shows a 32-year-old pregnant woman, Ma B--- from Kawkareik Town (F--- section), Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District, while she was hospitalised. She sustained an injury on her back caused by shrapnel from an SAC air strike conducted on December 2nd 2024, at 8 am, onto Kawkareik Town. The photo on the right shows, an 11-year-old child named Saw A---, from Kawkareik Town (E--- section), Kaw T’Ree Township, Dooplaya District, while receiving treatment in the clinic. He was injured by shrapnel on his right calf, after the SAC conducted an air strike on November 4th 2023 at around 10 am onto Kawkareik Town. [Photos: KHRG]
Footnotes:
[1] The present document is based on information received in January 2024. It was provided by a community member in Hpa-an District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions on the ground. The names of the victims, their photos and the exact locations are censored for security reasons. The parts in square brackets are explanations added by KHRG.
[2] ‘Saw’ is a S’gaw Karen male honorific title used before a person’s name.
[3] ‘Ma’ is a Burmese female honorific title used before a person’s name.
[4] ‘Muslim’ is treated as both an ethnic and religious designation in Southeast Burma, the reason being that many ‘Muslims’ in Southeast Burma are unable to trace their ethnic origins. What is generally meant by that is that they are not able to trace their ethnic origins back to one of the 135 government-defined ‘national races’ that are used to determine citizenship. While ‘Muslim’ or ‘Kaw La’/ ‘Ka La’ may be used as ethnic designators in common parlance, neither however is appropriate in designating ethnicity on official documents because not part of the official vocabulary used for ethnic designations that confer citizenship.
[5] A village tract is an administrative unit of between five and 20 villages in a local area, often centred on a large village.
[6] The State Administration Council (SAC) is the executive governing body created in the aftermath of the February 1st 2021 military coup. It was established by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on February 2nd 2021, and is composed of eight military officers and eight civilians. The chairperson serves as the de facto head of government of Myanmar and leads the Military Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the government. Min Aung Hlaing assumed the role of SAC chairperson following the coup.
[7] The People’s Defence Force (PDF) is an armed resistance established independently as local civilian militias operating across the country. Following the February 1st 2021 military coup and the ongoing brutal violence enacted by the junta, the majority of these groups began working with the National Unity Government (NUG), a body claiming to be the legitimate government of Burma/Myanmar, which then formalized the PDF on May 5th 2021 as a precursor to a federal army.
[8] The Karen National Liberation Army is the armed wing of the Karen National Union.
[9] The Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) is the health department of the Karen National Union. It was established in 1956 to address the lack of public healthcare resources in rural Southeast Myanmar. It currently operates a network of community-based clinics in the region, but its capabilities remain limited due to funding constraints.
