Type of Incident

[Air strike.] A State Administration Council (SAC)[2] air strike injured two villagers.

Date of Incident(s)

March 10th 2025.

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

Tr--- village, Ma Nol Rol area, Ler K’Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District.

Victim(s) Information

Name

Ma[3] K---

Ma C---

Age

17 years old

5 years old

Gender

Girl

Girl

Ethnicity

Bamar[4]

Bamar

Marital Status  

-

-

Occupation

-

-

Religion

Buddhist

Buddhist

Position

[Villager]

[Villager]

Village

Tr--- village, Ma Nol Rol area, Ler K’Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District.

Tr--- village, Ma Nol Rol area, Ler K’Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District.

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Type of Aircraft

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Y-12

Burma [SAC] Air Force[5]

Myeik Town, Htee Moh Pyah area, Ler Muh Lah Township, Mergui-Tavoy District.

[General Tun Aung serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Burma (SAC) Air Force]

1. Explain in detail how this information was collected.

A KHRG researcher went to the incident place to do the documentation. Then, he met with a [Karen National Union (KNU)[6]] local authority named Saw[7] J---, from Jz--- village, Ma Nol Rol area, Ler K’Saw Township, and asked about the incident that had happened in the area. [The KHRG researcher also discussed the events informally with a soldier from an armed resistance group who confirmed the type of aircraft.]

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

This information is authentic since the local leader who provided the information witnessed the incident. [Saw J---, the local authority, was in Tr--- village when the incident occurred.]  

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

On March 10th 2025, at 3:47 pm, an aircraft of the State Administration Council [SAC] conducted an air strike in Tr--- village, Ma Nol Rol area, Ler K’Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, without any fighting happening in the village. Two bombs were dropped, and they [the SAC] also fired machine guns from the aircraft after dropping the bombs. The first bomb landed in the vicinity of [nearby] Ks--- village, without causing casualties or property destruction, while the second bomb landed in Tr--- village.

The first bomb that was dropped by the [SAC] aircraft landed in the vicinity of Ks--- village, located between Tr--- and Sn--- villages, in Ma Nol Rol area. Ks--- village is a place where the KNLA [Karen National Liberation Army[8]] has ambushed SAC soldiers whenever they [SAC soldiers] patrolled or conducted military offensive operations through the village. Ks--- village is located 10 minutes by foot from Tr--- village. Also, they [the SAC] dropped another [the second] bomb behind [the former] Tr--- clinic, located in Tr--- village, which was administered by the SAC. Now, there is no healthcare worker, and the clinic was closed after the coup in 2021, because the SAC-assigned healthcare worker did not dare to stay in the village due to their security concerns.

When villagers heard the sound of the bombs landing [in the vicinity of Ks--- village], they were shocked and afraid, so they ran [fled]. Shortly after the villagers from Ks--- village, Sn---- village, and Tr--- village began to run [flee], [the SAC] also fired machine guns from the aircraft towards Tr--- village [seemingly targeting fleeing villagers in both the village and its surroundings]. Then two sisters named Ma K--- (17 years old) and Ma C--- (5 years old) were hit [grazed] by [bullets from] the machine gunfire. Ma K--- was injured on her buttocks and Ma C--- was injured on her legs. The two injured villagers were going out to buy a meal for their dinner when the air strike was conducted.

After the air strike, the two injured villagers were taken to Bc--- hospital to receive treatment [because there is no longer a clinic in the village]. A monk transported them to the hospital by car. Their parents also accompanied them to the hospital. Bc--- hospital is located on a mountain in Khel Chaung area, Ler K'Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, which is located about 30 minutes from Tr--- village by motorbike and is administered by the KDHW [Karen Department of Health and Welfare[9]]. The hospital did not charge them medical or treatment fees. [Their injuries were not severe and required treatment but not hospitalisation. They have recovered.]

In addition, betel nut plantations owned by villagers were also damaged by the air strikes.  Presently [as of March 2025], villagers dare not stay in their village [due to their fear of further air strikes]. So, they packed their things and went [fled] to their plantations.

Villagers did not take any special [safety] precautions on the day that the air strike happened in the village. A local KNU leader [specific position censored for security], named Saw J---, stated: “We didn’t think things would happen like this [that an air strike would occur]. We heard the sound of an aircraft when it came. But aircraft pass through our village every day to conduct air strikes in a place where fighting happens, at Pl--- village [in Htee Wah area, T’Naw Th’Ree Township], and it [aircraft] has never conducted an air strike in our village. Fighting happens every day in Pl--- village [but never in Tr--- village]. So, we didn’t think that an air strike would happen in our village. Moreover, the aircraft [which conducted an air strike] is white, so we thought it was a passenger aircraft.” [A soldier of an armed resistance group informed the KHRG researcher that the aircraft was a Y-12. He was in Tr--- village buying food at the time of the attack, without wearing a uniform.]

The local leader, Saw J---, informed the KHRG field researcher that there is no armed group [operating] in the village. That is why the villagers there [were able to] do their jobs peacefully. [The day of the air strike,] villagers went to their work as [it was a] regular day. Local armed groups [sometimes] travel to Tr--- village to buy food [there]. In addition, they [the KNLA] [regularly] advance through the village to go to the frontline at Pl--- village, Htee Wah area, T’Naw Th’Ree (Tanintharyi) Township, Mergui-Tavoy District. It takes one hour by motorbike from Tr--- village to Pl--- village.

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

A local KNU leader allowed us [KHRG] to use this information for publication. [He further clarified that the parents of the victims had provided the KNU with consent to release this information to other organisations for documentation and publication purposes, as the parents of the victims want the international community to know the harm that the Burma military regime is causing to local villagers.]