This Incident Report describes events occurring in Kyeh Htoh (Kyaikto) Township, Doo Tha Htoo (Thaton) District, on October 22nd 2023. On the early morning of October 22nd, State Administration Council (SAC) Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #2 shelled 81mm mortar rounds into C--- village, Nghet Pyaw Taw village tract. One of the mortar rounds landed in a villager’s house and injured three civilians. The injured villagers were sent to Kyaikto hospital to receive treatment, and one was later transferred to Thaton hospital, due to the severity of his injuries.[1]

 

 

Part 1 – Incident Details

Type of Incident

SAC shelling injured three civilians

Date of Incident(s)

October 22nd 2023 

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

C--- village, Nghet Pyaw Taw village tract[2], Kyeh Htoh (Kyaikto) Township, Doo Tha Htoo (Thaton) District

Victim Information

Name

Saw[3] D---

Naw[4] E---

Naw G---

Age

41 years old

32 years old

44 years old

Gender

Man

Woman

Woman

Ethnicity

Karen

Karen

Karen

Marital Status  

Married

Married

Married

Occupation

Plantation worker

Plantation worker

Plantation worker

Religion

Buddhist

Buddhist

Buddhist

Position

Villager

Villager

Villager

Village

C--- village

C--- village

C--- village

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Unknown

Unknown

Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[5] #2

from Thaton Town army camp, based at Let Pan Pin temporary camp in C--- village

Unknown

 

Part 2 - Information Quality

1. Explain in detail how this information was collected.

This information was [first] notified by a local leader [position censored for security]. Then, [the KHRG researcher] went to the victims’ house, and conducted an interview with Saw D--- and Naw E---.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

The information was verified by interviewing [two of] the victims themselves.

 

Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

On October 22nd 2023, at around 7 am, the State Administration Council (SAC)[6] Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #2, from Thaton Town army camp  [which is based at Let Pan Pin temporary camp in C--- village] shelled 81mm mortar rounds [in the area], and [one of] the mortar shells landed in C--- village, Nghet Pyaw Taw village tract, Kyeh Htoh (Kyaikto) Township, Doo Tha Htoo District, in Karen National Union (KNU)[7]-controlled area. As the SAC shelled several rounds of mortar, a villager named Saw D--- went under his [stilt] house to hide from the mortars. At that time, one of the mortar shells exploded on the top of his house and injured Saw D---, along with two women who were hiding under the house. In total, three people sustained injuries. The names of the two injured women are Naw E--- and Naw G---.

 

While Naw E--- was handing out invitations [for a funeral ceremony], she heard the sound of mortar shelling, so she went to hide under Saw D---’s house and was injured along with Saw D---. Similarly, while Naw G--- was waiting for the ‘line car’ [pick-up truck, used as a shared taxi] to go to Kyaikto Town, she heard the sound of mortar shelling and went to hide under Saw D---’s house. Then, she was injured along with Naw E---.

 

The shrapnel from the shell hit and was embedded inside Saw D---’s right arm and broke his bone. The mortar shrapnel hit Naw E---’s right arm, but she did not sustain severe injuries. Naw G--- was injured on her head, and she sustained life-threatening injuries. These three villagers were sent [by local villagers] to the nearby hospital which is Kyaikto Hospital [run by the SAC]. However, Kyaikto hospital did not admit Saw D--- [as they were not adequately equipped to treat his injuries] and then, he was transferred to Thaton hospital [run by the SAC]. [As of January 2024,] Saw D--- had not fully recovered from the injuries yet.

 

While Saw D--- was being treated at the hospital, he received a total of 150,000 kyats [71.33 USD][8] in cash from [two] local humanitarian groups. After this incident, Saw D--- expressed: “It will be better if they [SAC soldiers] don’t conduct shelling like this again. Then, the villagers will live peacefully. Now, we dare not sleep as we don’t know when they will conduct shelling”. He added: “Since I was injured, I have not been able to work, and it causes challenges for my livelihood”.

 

Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details

Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided.

The interviewees are the victims who experienced these human rights violations and they both gave permission to use the information as needed.

 

 

                    

Further background reading on the situation on shelling in Southeast Burma/Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports:

 
Fri, 28 Jun 2024

Footnotes: 

[1] The present document is based on information received in February 2024. It was provided by a community member in Doo Tha Htoo 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] A village tract is an administrative unit of between five and 20 villages in a local area, often centred on a large village.

[3] ‘Saw’ is a male honorific title in S’Gaw Karen language used before a person’s name.

[4] ‘Naw’ is a female honorific title in S’Gaw Karen language used before a person’s name.

[5] A Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) comprises 500 soldiers. Most Light Infantry Battalions in the Tatmadaw (or Burma Army) are under-strength with less than 200 soldiers, yet up-to-date information regarding the size of battalions is hard to come by, particularly following the signing of the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). LIBs are primarily used for offensive operations, but they are sometimes used for garrison duties.

[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 Burma (Myanmar) and leads the Military Cabinet of Burma, the executive branch of the government.

[7] The Karen National Union (KNU) is the main Karen political organisation. It was established in 1947 and has been in conflict with the government since 1949. The KNU wields power across large areas of Southeast Myanmar and has been calling for the creation of a democratic federal system since 1976. Although it signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in 2015, relations with the government remain tense.

[8] All conversion estimates for the kyat are based on the 19th June 2024 mid-market exchange rate of 1,000 kyat to USD 0.48 (taken from https://wise.com/gb/currency-converter/mmk-to-usd-rate).

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ဖးအါထီၣ်တၢ်ဂ့ၢ်ဘၣ်ထွဲတဖၣ်

ဒူသထူၣ်ကီၢ်ရ့ၣ် တၢ်ကဲထီၣ်သးတၢ်ပာ်ဖျါ- ကၠဲးထိကီၢ်ဆၣ်အပူၤ SAC ခးလီၤကျိဖးဒိၣ်ချံလၢသဝီပူၤအဃိ သဝီဖိဘၣ်ဒိသၢဂၤ, လါအီးကထိဘၢၣ် ၂၀၂၃ နံၣ်