Type of Incident

[Air strike.] Drone strike and injury

Date of Incident(s)

July 25th 2024

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

K--- village, Naw Ghaw Plaw village tract[2], Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District.

Name

Maung[3] B---

Saw[4] D---

Age

32 years old

17 years old

Gender

Man

Boy

Ethnicity

Bamar[5]

Karen

Marital Status  

Married

-

Occupation

Daily worker

Daily worker

Religion

Christian

Unknown

Position

Villager

Villager

Village

K--- village, Naw Ghaw Plaw village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District.

K--- village, Naw Ghaw Plaw village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District.

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Unknown

Unknown

State Administration Council (SAC)[6] Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[7] #439

Ka Nyut Kwin City, Pyu Township

Unknown

1. Explain in detail how this information was collected.

[A KHRG researcher] heard about this incident when [he] called the village head of K--- village and requested information from him. [The village head, named Pu[8] C---,] also accompanied [the KHRG researcher] to see [and talk to] the injured person, Maung B---, in person. [The KHRG researcher] took photos [of Maung B---’s injuries] and conducted an interview with his [Maung B---’s] wife, Naw[9] P---. [The KHRG researcher also talked to Saw D---, the other injured villager.]

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

This information was given by Naw P--- and her husband Maung B---, who is one of the victims. He faced this incident himself. [The KHRG researcher also talked to Saw D---, who also sustained an injury due to the air strike.]

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

On July 25th 2024, in the evening at around 5 pm, the State Administration Council (SAC) Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #439, based in Ka Nyut Kwin City, Pyu Township, deployed a drone that dropped two bombs simultaneously in K--- village, Naw Ghaw Plaw village tract, Moo Township, Kler Lwee Htoo District. The attack injured a 32-year-old man named Maung B--- and a 17-year-old teenage boy named Saw D---. [Local villagers believe LIB #439 conducted the attack, as this LIB’s is the only army camp in the area of K--- village.]  

Maung B--- was hit by the drone strike while walking home after bathing [at the local well]. [Earlier in the day,] he had been cleaning up his house which had been damaged earlier [exact date unknown; as the villagers were displaced] by air strikes and mortar shelling [from the SAC]. Naw P--- [, Maung B---’s wife,] explained: “After Burmese [Burma Army] soldiers shelled mortar shells and conducted air strikes [in K--- village; in 2024, exact date unknown], we went to stay with my mother-in-law in the city and later we moved to our farmhouse [near K--- village to] start working. But later we had to go back to our village [K--- village] because it was raining and there was flooding in our farmhouse. When we arrived to the village [on July 25th 2024], we saw our house’s roof was damaged by air strikes and we could see through [the holes] in it. We had to recover the roof and clean up our house. After we cleaned the house, my husband [Maung B---] went to [the local well to] take a bath and he was hit by the drone attack while he was [on his way] back to home”. Naw P--- [, Maung B---’s wife,] mentioned that [she believes] the SAC has been receiving information [about Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[10]’s movements] from someone when the KNLA move through the village to their army camp, so then SAC drones came and dropped the bombs. [Before the air strike occurred on that day, Naw P--- and her husband, Maung B---, saw five or six KNLA soldiers passing through K--- village.]

Maung B--- was injured twice on his upper left arm, once on his chest, and his right leg was broken by the bomb [explosion]. Maung B--- was taken [by some local villagers and his wife] to a clinic [administered by the Karen National Union (KNU)[11]] in H--- village, in Way Swah village tract, Moo Township, and now he remains under treatment [as of August 2024]. Maung B--- has not received any [financial] support [for his medical treatment or transportation costs] while he remains under treatment. His family has faced many problems since he was injured because he is the one who supports his family for their livelihood [and he could not work during his recovery. His wife also had to take time to look after him.].

[Due to the drone attack,] Saw D--- was injured on the waist [by shrapnel]. [Saw D--- was inside his home when the strike occurred.] Saw D--- received treatment in K--- village [from local healthcare workers] because he was not injured severely.

As a result, the villagers dare not to live in the village after the incident occurred. From June to July 2023 until now [November 2024], [drone strikes have happened regularly in the area so] villagers had to flee [constantly] to other places such as farmhouses, cities and other villages when air strikes and mortar shelling happened. Some of them fled and stayed outside [of the village] for one year already and they have faced problems from raining and flooding. Furthermore, the villagers feel like they have no long-term stable place to live. 

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

The victim, Maung B---, and his wife, Naw P---, gave permission to use and release this information. [The other victim, Saw D---, also gave permission for this information to be published.]