Type of Incident

Air strike

Date of Incident(s)

March 22nd 2023

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

A--- place and B--- place, near C--- village, Ta Kaw Poe village tract[2], Hpa-an Township, Doo Tha Htoo District

Victim Information

Name

Saw[3] D---

Age

55 years

Sex

Male

Nationality

Karen

Family   

Married

Occupation

Plantation worker

Religion

Buddhist

Position

Villager

Village

E--- village, Ta Kaw Poe village tract, Hpa-an Township, Doo Tha Htoo District

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

SAC fighter jets

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

On March 23rd 2023, a local leader from Ta Kaw Poe village tract called a KHRG researcher over the phone and informed him about the incident. On the same day, the KHRG researcher went to meet Saw D---’s wife and Saw F--- and conducted interviews with them.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

The information providers are the wife of Saw D---, who is a victim of the SAC air strike, and Saw F---, whose plantation and property were damaged by the air strike.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. For each incident, be sure to include 1) when the incident happened, 2) where it happened, 3) what happened, 4) how it happened, 5) who was involved, and 6) why it happened. Also describe any villager response(s) to the incident, the aftermath and the current living situation of the victims. Please use the space prepared below, and create an attachment if needed.

On the night of March 22nd 2023, at around 11 pm, an State Administration Council (SAC)[4] fighter jet dropped two bombs in B--- place, near C--- village, Ta Kaw Poe village tract, Hpa-an Township, Doo Tha Htoo District. Saw D---, a 55-year-old villager from E--- village, Ta Kaw Poe village tract, was hit by the bombs’ explosion when he was sleeping in the hut in his durian plantation, and died on the spot. His chest was hit on the right side by the bomb explosion. He had gone to sleep in his durian plantation because he was planning to set up [fire-breaks] to protect the plantation from being burned by nearby fires, as farmers often [burn their plantations] to refresh the crops’ yearly cycle. On that day, he went alone to sleep in his hut.  Saw D--- has a wife and three sons. [Since Saw D---’s passing,] his wife does not face livelihood issues, as her sons are adults and are able to support her financially. However, she suffers from loneliness.   

On the same night, two bombs were dropped by an SAC fighter jet in A--- place, near C--- village, Ta Kaw Poe village tract, Hpa-an Township. Due to these bombs’ explosions, a hut and a Japan Kyun Pin[5] [trees] plantation owned by Saw F---, a villager from C--- village, were damaged. Usually, Saw F--- goes to sleep in his hut on his plantation. However, on March 22nd 2023, he did not sleep in his hut. Instead, he came back to sleep in his village. Therefore, he was not hit by the air strike. Due to the air strike, most of the objects including pots and plates from his hut were damaged. Saw F--- had planted about 2,500 Japan Kyun Pin trees on his plantation. Due to the air strike, more than 1,000 Japan Kyun Pin trees were damaged.

Hence, on the night of March 22nd 2023, the SAC conducted air strikes in two different locations; and they dropped two bombs for each strike. The SAC conducted air strikes in the area because Karen National Liberation Army [KNLA][6] Battalion #1, and its allied troops, went to attack Border Guard Force (BGF)[7] Battalion #1014[8]’s checkpoint under the command of the SAC in Nyaung Kone village, Kyone Kha Na village tract, Hpa-an Township on the morning of March 22nd 2023. After the attack, the KNLA and its allied troops retreated from the incident place. The SAC conducted [retaliatory] air strikes in the places where they thought that the KNLA and its combined forces had stayed [been hosted]. [As explained,] due to the SAC air strikes, one villager died and another villager’s property was damaged.

Moreover, some villagers’ houses [from Kyone Kha Na village tract] were damaged because SAC Military Operations Command (MOC)[9] #8 from Pein Net Taw army camp, in Pein Net Taw village, Thaton Township, Doo Tha Htoo District, indiscriminately fired 120 mm mortars to help their troops from Nyaung Kone army camp [whose checkpoint had been attacked. They shelled around the checkpoint, in the hope that the KNLA might not be able to attack again in the short term]. In addition, some villagers’ houses and property from Nyaung Kone village and its neighbouring villages were damaged because the BGF and SAC combined troops from Nyaung Kone army camp indiscriminately shelled mortars [in and] around [the village, before and after their checkpoint had been attacked]. Due to this indiscriminate shelling, villagers from Nyaung Kone village and its neighbouring villages fled from their villages.

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

Saw D---’s wife and Saw F--- gave permission to share or publish this information.