Karen Human Rights Group

Kler Lwee Htoo District Incident Report: A child was killed by SAC shelling in Moo Township, December 2022

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These two pictures were sent by a local leader from H---village, Paw Pee Der village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District on December 26th 2022. The picture on the left shows the victim’s corpse. The picture on the right shows the victim before the incident. [Photos: villager]

 

Part 1 – Incident Details

Type of Incident

A girl was killed by State Administration Council (SAC)[2] shelling

Date of Incident(s)

December 26th 2022

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

H---village, Paw Pee Der village tract[3], Moo (Mone) Township, Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District

Victim Information

Name

Ma[4] T---

Age

7 years old

Sex

Female

Ethnicity

Burmese

Family   

Single

Occupation

Villager

Religion

Buddhist

Position

Villager

Village

H--- village, Paw Pee Der village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District 

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Unknown

Unknown

Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[5] #590

Yin Aoh Sin army camp, Paw Pee Der village tract, Moo Township

Unknown

 

Part 2 - Information Quality

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

On January 9th 2023, a villager who witnessed this incident provided the information to a KHRG researcher. 

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

A KHRG researcher received this information from a villager who witnessed the incident.

 

Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident

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 December 26th 2022, three Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[6] soldiers [from Kler Lwee Htoo District, Battalion #8] attacked SAC soldiers based in H--- village, Paw Pee Der village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District. [Later the same day,] at about 8:00 pm, SAC soldiers of LIB #590 based in Yin Aoh Sin camp, as well as SAC soldiers located in H--- village, indiscriminately shelled [several] mortar shells at H--- village, damaging a kindergarten. Some of the shelling also landed close to Saw[7] M---‘s [a villager] house and the river bank. Another mortar shell landed on U[8] A---‘s [another local villager] house and killed his granddaughter, Ma T---, a 7-year-old child. She passed away on the spot at the time of the incident [after sustaining an injury to her neck by the shrapnel]. Ma T--- stayed with her grandfather because her parents went out for work.

 

[Due to the armed clashes and the indiscriminate shelling incident mentioned above,] the villagers were afraid and stayed inside their homes. After the incident, villagers were afraid, so some fled to town, while others fled to their fields, huts, and to the nearby jungle. Some villagers dug bunkers under their homes for their safety.

 

Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details

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

The villager who provided this information and the victim’s family gave KHRG permission to use it.

 

 

 

Further background reading on the security and human rights situation in Kler Lwee Htoo District in Southeast Burma can be found in the following KHRG reports:

  • “Kler Lwee Htoo District Situation Update: Displacement, food insecurity, and health care challenges, June to July 2022 ”, March 2023.
  • “Kler Lwee Htoo District Short Update: Fighting, indiscriminate shelling, displacement, air strikes, and limited access to education, August to September 2022”, March 2023.
  • “Kler Lwee Htoo District Incident Report: SAC arbitrarily killing of a villager near his farm hut, Moo Township, September 2022”, February 2023.
  • “Kler Lwee Htoo District Incident Report: SAC soldiers shot dead a female villager in Moo Township, November 2022”, February 2023.