Type of Incident

Air strike

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.

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

1. Explain in detail how this information was collected.

[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.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

[The KHRG researcher] interviewed Saw A---’s mother about her son’s incident. [The KHRG researcher] interviewed Ma B--- about the incident.

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.”

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

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.