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PHOTO SET 2005-A: Shootings and Killings
Throughout Burma and particularly in rural areas, the absence of the rule of law combines with the SPDC's model of society, in which the lives of civilians are at the complete disposal of the military, to create a context in which soldiers are empowered to kill civilians on any pretext and with complete impunity. The number of civilians nationwide wounded or killed by the Army is impossible to accurately estimate, but certainly runs into the hundreds each month. Most of them are not killed in the crossfire of armed conflict, but shot on sight, beaten or tortured to death, killed by landmines or other means during forced labour, forced relocation, SPDC campaigns to depopulate villages, rape, robbery, and other contexts unilaterally imposed by the SPDC military. Much of the shooting and killing occurs in rural areas which SPDC forces are attempting to depopulate in order to bring the civilians under military control. In such areas the Army orders villagers to relocate to military-designated sites, then attacks and destroys the villages (see Sections 2 [ Attacks on Villages and Village Destruction ] and 3 [ Forced Relocations and Restrictions ]). When troops come to clear out a village or punish it for failure to comply with orders, people in the village are shot at random and anyone left behind may be executed on the spot (see photos 5-52 to 5-57 , 9-22 , and 5-64 to 5-66 ). Later, patrols are sent out to hunt down people who are still living in the area in defiance of military orders. In Papun and Nyaunglebin districts of northern Karen State, this method of operations has been intensified since 1997 and villagers continue to be shot on sight regularly (see photos 5-1 , 10-43 to 10-46 , 10-99 , 5-20 to 5-22 , 5-28 , 9-20 and 9-21 , 5-31 and 5-32 , and 5-45 to 5-47 ). More villagers are now being killed in nearby Toungoo District as well, where the SPDC has constructed new roads and Army camps and is now forcing people out of the hills and militarising the region to bring it under control (see photos 10-2 , 10-7 to 10-11 , and 5-6 to 5-8 ). In southern Karenni (Kayah State) the SPDC carried out a forced relocation campaign in 2004 resulting in the killing of many villagers and the flight of some of the survivors into Karen State (see photos 10-5 and 10-6 ). Many of these people are shot or captured and tortured when they encounter SPDC patrols along pathways while travelling to their fields or to sell their crops in nearby villages. SPDC patrols also seek out the shelters and farmfields of internally displaced villagers. The rice harvest season is their favourite time to send columns out to attack displaced villagers in the fields, when they are exposed and vulnerable. The troops approach the field from the forest, opening fire on the villagers from close range even though they can see that they are firing on women and children (see photos 5-33 to 5-40 , 5-23 to 5-25 , 5-26 and 5-27 , and 9-1 and 9-2 ). Villagers also continue to be killed by landmines, which are often placed in their abandoned villages and around ricefields (see photos 11-12 to 11-15 , and other photos in Section 11 [ Landmines ]). To protect themselves, displaced villagers sometimes travel with Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) escorts, but end up being shot when SPDC or DKBA units ambush the KNLA troops (see photos 5-12 and 5-58 to 5-60 ). 
Villagers are also shot or killed during forced labour. Photos 5-14 to 5-19 show a large group of villagers in Toungoo district who were doing forced labour transporting rations for one SPDC unit when they were attacked by another SPDC unit, killing at least one and wounding several others. Villagers doing forced labour as porters and guides for SPDC units are deliberately placed in vulnerable positions so that they will be the first to be hit if the column is ambushed (see photos 5-2 , 5-29 , and 5-51 ); once hit, they are often left behind without treatment. After being attacked, SPDC columns also tend to open fire on the next villagers they see simply out of anger (see photos 5-9 to 5-11 ). The prison convicts used as porters by many SPDC units are treated particularly brutally, being sent in front as human minesweepers (see Section 11 [ Landmines ]) and killed when they can no longer carry loads (photos 6-76 and 6-93 ), though photos 6-51 to 6-54 show that this also happens to innocent civilian porters. By labelling the civilian population as the enemy the SPDC Army has dehumanised them, making it easy to kill them without any justification. Villagers are killed as part of armed robbery by SPDC troops ( photos 5-3 to 5-5 ) and when they are under detention for purposes of interrogation or ransom (photos 10-84 , 5-13 , and 4-13 ; see also Section 4 [ Detention and Torture ]). Even if villagers lodge a complaint, action is almost never taken and they are sometimes punished for complaining. The power to kill civilians with impunity is so entrenched in the psyche of the SPDC Army that soldiers use it as a threat to keep rape and robbery victims quiet, or to ensure compliance with orders. Photo 5-50 shows an assault rifle bullet that was sent to a village headwoman as a clear threat that she could be shot simply for failing to attend a meeting the following day. Unlike ordinary rifles, assault rifle bullets are designed to tumble inside the body and rip a large exit wound in order to maximise their maiming and crippling effects. For the survivors, the resulting scars and disabilities last a lifetime and often prevent them ever being able to work to support their families again (see photos 5-75 and 5-77 ). The SPDC almost never provides any form of compensation to civilians it has wounded or the families of those whom it kills. Widows, widowers and orphans are left to support themselves and their families alone (see photos 9-18 and 9-19 and many other photos below), while many villagers must flee their home areas and try to re-establish a life elsewhere ( photos 5-67 to 5-72 ). Shootings and killings should therefore not be seen as momentary incidents whose impact fades with time, but as crimes whose ripple effects spread over time to change a great number of lives.
Photo #5-1: Karen villager C--- is from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district. On January 26 th 2005 he was walking on a forest path with his friend Ngeh Lin when they met a column from SPDC LIB #598. Column Commander Maung Maung opened fire on them immediately. Ngeh Lin was hit in the hip and died in the forest. C--- was hit in the thigh and survived, but when this photo was taken in mid-February his wound had still not healed. He has a wife and baby daughter to support but cannot work yet. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-2: Villagers from S--- village, Tantabin township, Toungoo district, hiding in the forest the night of January 17 th 2005. They fled their village because Commander Chan Nyein Tha and his soldiers from SPDC IB #73 Column 1 came to the village, arrested two villagers there and killed them. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos # 11-12, 11-13, 11-14, 11-15: Saw Htoo Aye, age 41, killed by an SPDC landmine on December 9 th 2004. He is a villager from Ka Bu Kee village in Papun district. SPDC relocation orders have forced everyone in Saw Mu Plaw village tract out of their villages, so like many others he was living in hiding in the forest. He stepped on this mine near an SPDC Army post in the area. It blew off both of his legs (see photo 11-14 ) and he bled to death on the spot. Photo 11-15 shows his friend Saw T---, who was with him at the time and was hit in the face by shrapnel from the mine. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #10-5, 10-6: In late 2004 a group of Karenni villagers fled southwestern Kayah State because their houses were burned and looted by SPDC LIB #428 and the KnSO [Karenni Solidarity Organisation, a former battalion of the Karenni resistance which broke away and now works with the SPDC (for more information see Enduring Hunger and Repression [KHRG #2004-01, September 2004]) , and are now displaced in northern Karen State. These photos show Naw K---, her 3 children, and her hut in the forest of northern Papun district in October 2004. Her husband was shot dead by a combined column of SPDC LIB #428 and KnSO soldiers in Kayah State. They crossed into Karen State and sought refuge in Kaw Lu Der village tract of Papun district, but SPDC troops looted their belongings again there, so this is their second hiding place. Even here they are not safe, as Karen villagers in this area are shot on sight by SPDC columns. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 10-7, 10-8, 10-9, 10-10, 10-11: Internally displaced villagers in eastern Toungoo District, September 2004. These people fled villages near the Toungoo-Mawchi vehicle road near the Karen/Kayah State border due to the heavy SPDC military presence along the road. Naw M---, age 31 ( photo 10-8 ) lost her husband when he was arrested and killed by SPDC IB #26. Naw S---, age 19 ( photo 10-9 ), fled after troops from Light Infantry Division 55 burned her village. The photos show the area in the forest where they now stay in makeshift shelters. Photos 10-10 and 10-11 show the makeshift primary school they have established for their children in a nearby farmfield hut. Establishing makeshift schools is often one of the first priorities of displaced villagers because it maintains a sense of dignity, community and continuity. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-2: Saw G---, 42, from H--- village in Tantabin Township of Toungoo District was wounded during fighting between the SPDC Army and KNLA soldiers. He had been ordered to serve as a guide by Commander Hlaing Win Tin of SPDC IB #60 Column #1 when a battle occurred on July 1 st 2004 despite the informal KNLA-SPDC ceasefire. He received numerous wounds to his arm, leg, and abdomen as he was trying to escape the fighting. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-76: Escaped convict porters (left to right) S---, age 20, A---, age 20, and K---, age 18, who were forced to porter loads for the SPDC in Bu Tho township, Papun District. All three of them were Buddhist monks. One evening they were out for a walk when they were stopped and detained by SPDC troops, who then sent them to prison without charge or trial. On arrival at prison they were forcibly disrobed, then sent to Papun district as convict porters. All three of them were forced to porter loads to frontline areas and work on the vehicle road at Kaw Pu for LIB #379. They were not provided with sufficient food and were subjected to regular beatings. They witnessed one of the other porters, Than Nyein, 20, shot dead by one of the soldiers because he had contracted malaria and became too weak to carry a load. When they felt they could no longer endure the treatment, they fled on April 28 th 2004. This photo was taken a couple of days later. It is likely that they were initially arrested for no reason other than to fill the SPDC's growing need for convict porters. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-75: Saw W---, 57, and his wife Naw P---, from K--- village in northern Papun district. These days convict porters who escape from SPDC units frequently arrive in their village. Together they cared for escaped convict porter Kyaw Than, who had escaped from the SPDC IB #384 camp at Maw Pu in mid-2004, but in his weak state he fell ill and died. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #10-43, 10-44, 10-45, 10-46: Villagers flee K'Leh Loh village in Lu Thaw township, Papun district to escape an approaching column of Light Infantry Division #55 in January 2004. The column entered their village, burned their paddy storage barns, looted their houses, and killed villager Saw Kloh Po Heh. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-3, 5-4, 5-5: On December 20 th 2003, soldiers of SPDC IB #264 Column 1 (Column Commander Tin Maung Shwe commanding) led by officer Chit Hlaing encountered a group of four villagers from Toungoo District along their way. They detained all four men, looted their belongings and robbed the 100,000 Kyat in cash the four were carrying with them. They then tied the heads of the four men with cloth and beat all four of them to death with a stick. The victims were Saw Day Day, 30, and Saw Win Ni from Ma La Gone village; Saw Ni K'Ler, 20, from Peh Kaw Der village; and Saw Ba Aung, 30, from K'Thaw Kee village. They then buried all four men in a shallow hole together along with the cloth and the stick used to kill them. A KHRG researcher found and partially exhumed the grave in February 2004. Lying among the remains of the victims and their clothing, photo 5-3 displays the red bloodied cloth that was used to tie one of their heads before beating them with the stick. The stick used to beat them to death, still marked with the blood of the victims, appears in the foreground of Photo 5-5 . [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-6, 5-7, 5-8: M--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo district is in the hills outside the direct control of any SPDC Army camp, so when LIB #509 Battalion Commander Nyunt Win learned that villagers were once again living in the village he sent a column to burn it. When they arrived to burn the village on December 19 th 2003 (see photos 2-5 through 2-8 in Section 2 [ Attacks on Villages and Village Destruction ] ) , the troops saw 20-year-old male villager Saw Ko Lah in the village. They shot him dead on sight, then buried his body by the smouldering remains of one of the buildings that they had torched; Photo 5-6 shows his head in his partly exhumed grave. Photos 5-7 and 5-8 show his 17 year old sister Naw P--- beside his grave. These photos were taken in January 2004. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-9, 5-10, 5-11: Saw P---, age 32, from T--- village in Shwegyin township, Nyaunglebin District. On September 15 th 2003 he was carrying some rice from his village to his family, who were panning for gold with other villagers in the Shwegyin River. At 4 p.m. a battle broke out between SPDC LIB #440 and KNLA troops near where he was passing. The SPDC soldiers saw him and turned their fire on him as well, and he was hit in the left calf as he was trying to run away from the fighting. It took him three days to reach medical care in a KNU clinic. These photos were taken on September 29 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-84: This photo taken on September 13 th 2003 shows an abandoned house in Khaw Klah village, Dweh Loh township, Papun district. A month earlier on August 9 th , SPDC soldiers from LIB #434 (Battalion Commander San Aung commanding) came to the village at 10 p.m. and took away the village head and several villagers. Some were reportedly executed, and the rest were still being detained without charge in Papun town when this photo was taken. Their families were given no access to them. Most of the other villagers fled to other villages, leaving only four of the village's 17 houses still occupied. The women in those four houses were waiting to discover the fate of their detained husbands, and then they planned to flee as well. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-12: Heavily pregnant Naw L---, 27, from T--- village in Bilin township of Thaton District became a widow and single mother when her husband was shot dead by DKBA soldiers from #333 Brigade, 2 nd Special Battalion Company 1, led by Saw Bu Ghay. Her husband was on his way to worship at 10 a.m. on August 17 th 2003 with a group accompanied by a KNLA escort when they encountered DKBA soldiers at Wa Klay Kyo. He was shot six times; once in the face, once in the chest, once in the armpit, once in his leg, and twice in his back. She told KHRG, "I have no husband anymore, so how can I work for food? My child is small, I can't work. I get angry with them [DKBA] when I think about my husband." This photo was taken in January 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-13: At 10 p.m. on August 9 th 2003, soldiers from SPDC LIB #434 (Battalion Commander San Aung commanding) captured a number of internally displaced villagers from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District. They accused the villagers of being KNU sympathisers and then executed some of them. This photo shows the widows of three of the men executed: from left to right, 24 year old Naw B--- who is eight months pregnant, Naw M---, 32, also heavily pregnant, and 23 year old Naw E---. Along with being displaced, they now have to provide for their children alone. This photo was taken in September 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-14, 5-15, 5-16, 5-17, 5-18, 5-19: On June 13 th 2003, 300-400 villagers from the villages surrounding the Kler Lah forced relocation site in Toungoo District were ordered by SPDC Infantry Battalions #124 and #26 to porter rations along the Toungoo to Mawchi vehicle road, from Tha Aye Hta Army camp to the newly formed Army camp at Ler Wah Moo Thwa Koh on the border between Karen and Karenni (Kayah) State (see map ). As they were returning without military escort to Tha Aye Hta to take their second loads, they were ambushed by one of the SPDC's Dam Byan Byaut Kya ['Guerrilla Retaliation'] units at 1 p.m. near Wa Soe village. The villagers dropped their baskets and fled into the surrounding forest. Photo 5-14 , taken two days later, shows 65 of the villagers who escaped and found their way to this IDP hiding site in the forest. A number of villagers were wounded and at least one was killed. As he was fleeing, 25 year old Saw N--- ( photos 5-15 and 5-16 ) from D--- village suffered numerous shrapnel wounds to his buttocks. Photos 5-17 and 5-18 show Saw Pu Tu, also from D--- village, who was killed in the incident, laying face down in the forest with the remains of his portering basket still over his shoulders. Photo 5-19 is of Saw Pu Tu's widow, Naw L---, along with their five children. It is unclear why the Dam Byan Byaut Kya would open fire on villagers doing forced labour for the SPDC, but it is a unit which was created to kill villagers and operates with complete impunity (for more on the Dam Byan Byaut Kya in Toungoo District see KHRG's October 2004 report Enduring Hunger and Repression). These photos were taken in June 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher; the dates stamped on the photos are wrong.]
Photo #10-99: People in H--- village, Bu Tho township, Papun district, preparing to flee in June 2003 after SPDC troops came and shot and killed one of their fellow villagers just outside the village. The SPDC column had also destroyed some of their rice storehouses hidden near the village, so they did not dare stay any longer. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-20, 5-21, 5-22: Saw Pa La Day, 50, from T--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District was shot dead on sight by soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 on May 30, 2003. His wife, Naw T--- ( Photo 5-22 , which has been damaged), must now raise their three young children alone. The SPDC has been trying to depopulate the hills of Bu Tho township since 1997 by burning villages and shooting villagers on sight. These photos were taken in June 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-23, 5-24, 5-25: Saw Pa Kyaw Dah, age 38, from N--- village in Papun District was shot dead by soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 on May 29 th 2003. He was working in his hill field planting the paddy seeds for the next harvest when he was spotted and shot on sight. The SPDC is trying to clear villagers out of the hills where he lives, and Army columns often target villagers as they are working in their hill fields where they are far more visible. These photos were taken the day after he was killed. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-13: Naw N--- is a 33-year-old widow from W--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District. On May 5 th 2003, soldiers from LIB #434 led by Myo Myint Hlaing were ambushed by KNLA soldiers not far from her village. The soldiers then entered the village and arrested Naw N---'s husband, 41 year old Pa M---, and accused him of complicity in the attack. Arbitrarily arresting local fighting-age male villagers in retaliation for ambushes is a routine SPDC Army procedure. During his interrogation at the SPDC Army camp nearby, Pa M--- was kicked, strangled, hung, stabbed in the legs with knives, and beaten to death. Their eldest daughter, 13 year old Ma M---, had to drop out of school in order to find work to help her mother raise money to support the family. This photo was taken in July 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-26, 5-27: Saw M---, 23 years old from P--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District was shot by SPDC Army soldiers from LIB #38 while in his farmfield hut near his village on March 12 th 2003. The bullet passed straight through his upper arm. He was lucky to escape with his life. After he fled into the forest the soldiers stole 30,000 Kyat, three silver coins, and a bag from his hut. Photo 5-27 shows the cotton swabbing that was packed into the wound being removed by a medic. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-28: Saw P---, 28, from S--- village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District, was shot on sight and wounded in the shoulder by SPDC soldiers on December 1 st 2002. This photo was taken in March 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-93: A---, age 28, a painter from Rangoon, was arrested and imprisoned for selling illegal lottery tickets. He served only three months of his two year sentence in Insein prison before being transferred to Toungoo prison. He remained in Toungoo prison for only one week before being handed over to IB #124 based in Than Daung Gyi in Toungoo District of Karen State as a convict porter. IB #39 then took him as a porter to Kyo Ta Tan in Than Daung township for three months, during which time he was regularly beaten and forced to walk in front of the soldiers as a human minesweeper. Following this, he was reassigned to carry rations such as rice, salt, sugar, and tins of milk for IB #26. He was also forced to build the soldiers' huts with wood, bamboo, and thatch that he had to cut himself. Four of the nine porters working for IB #26 were beaten to death when they were no longer able to continue. Their names were Thein Htun, Tin Hlaing, Ya Goke, and Thein Zaw. Another porter, U Sein Htun, was shot dead by intelligence officer Captain Tin Hla. The surviving porters were forced to bury the bodies. During the time he spent with the soldiers, he was repeatedly kicked, punched, beaten with rifle butts, and once cut with a machete. Fearing that he too would soon die if he remained with the battalion, he fled in the middle of the night on February 17 th 2003. "Of the nine porters, five of them died. They [SPDC] forced them to work, beat them, and killed them. There was no medicine to treat them so they died. One of them was hit in the body until he died. Another was beaten to death with a gun barrel. They would hit me at least 20 times a day. I couldn't bear it anymore so I escaped. It took me for four days [to reach help]. I had no rice to eat. I was starving. The villagers looked after me and fed me." This photo taken in February 2003 shortly after his escape shows his emaciated and malnourished condition. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #9-20, 9-21: These two brothers from D--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District, Saw G---, age 8 (left), and Saw S---, age 4 (right), must live with their grandparents because both of their parents are dead. Their mother died in August 2001 after eating a poisonous toad while working in her hill field. For the next 18 months their father looked after them alone until he was captured and killed by SPDC troops on January 7 th 2003. Villagers from the area reported the incident to the local SPDC Army battalion, but no compensation was paid for his death or to support the children. Since then, the boys cry whenever their playmates are called home by their parents, because they no longer have any parents to call them home. Their grandparents say they were already struggling to support themselves, and it is now an added struggle to support the boys as well. These photos were taken in February 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: this image may disturb some viewers
Photo #5-29: Saw L--- was wounded in crossfire while doing forced labour as a porter for the SPDC. On November 20 th 2002 the battalion that he was portering for was ambushed by KNLA soldiers in the Meh Pleh Toh area in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District. This photo shows a Karen medic removing cotton swabbing from a large shrapnel wound in his back. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-30: After her husband was shot dead on sight by SPDC troops in November 2002, this woman and her child from D--- village in Papun District moved to stay with another family in M--- village, where this picture was taken. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-31, 5-32: On November 4 th 2002, Saw L---, Saw P---, and Saw Sha Kaw from D--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District left their village to sell bamboo that they had cut. They were spotted by soldiers from SPDC IB #19 who opened fire on them, wounding Saw L--- and killing Saw Sha Kaw. Photo 5-31 shows 27 year old Saw L--- receiving medical attention for the gunshot wounds in his shoulder at a KNU clinic in the area. Photo 5-32 is of Saw Sha Kaw's wife and four children. With her children still too small to do much hard work in the hill fields, it will be difficult for her to grow enough food for her family. SPDC forces routinely shoot villagers on sight in this area, because they have never been able to bring it under their full control. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-33, 5-34, 5-35, 5-36, 5-37, 5-38, 5-39, 5-40: On October 30 th 2002, a number of villagers from S--- village in northern Lu Thaw township, Papun District, went to harvest the paddy from their hill field at T---. SPDC forces have been trying to depopulate this hill area since 1997 by destroying villages, crops and food supplies and shooting villagers on sight, but thousands of villagers still survive here. At 3:30 pm as the villagers were collecting their harvest, soldiers from LIB #235 crept up on them and opened fire. One of the villagers, 25 year old Saw Ray Bee Wah, was shot dead, and at least five other villagers were injured in the shooting. Photos 5-33 , 5-34 , and 5-35 show Naw L---, 15, who was shot just below her left elbow. Photos 5-36 and 5-37 are of eight-year-old Naw M---, who was shot in the abdomen, the bullet barely missing her kidney. Photos 5-38 and 5-39 show the gunshot wound in the leg of Saw T---, 38. Fortunately for him, the bullet passed right through his leg without hitting the bone. Photo 5-40 shows Saw T---, 20 years old, who was shot in the forearm, having his wound cleaned by a Karen medic. Medics in the area can do little but clean the wounds due to the lack of medicines and clinic facilities. Saw P---, a 32-year-old villager not shown here, was also wounded. The reason so many people were hit is that they must harvest in open hillside fields with no cover, while SPDC troops can creep up in the forest to the very edge of the field without being detected. In these circumstances there is no doubt that they knew they were firing on civilians and children. These photos were taken in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-41, 5-42, 5-43, 5-44: Saw Wah Paw from T--- village of Kya In township, Dooplaya District was shot dead by soldiers from LIB #415 Column 1 (Battalion Commander Nyo Aye commanding) on October 21 st 2002. He is survived by his wife Naw L--- and his four children, shown in photo 5-41 . [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-45, 5-46, 5-47: On October 19 th 2002, soldiers from LIB #1 Column 2 (Battalion Commander Myo Myint commanding) saw 35 year old villager Saw Khin Maung Myint along the vehicle road and shot him dead on sight. He lived with his wife and two children in D--- village, Bu Tho township, Papun District. Photo 5-45 shows his final resting place where his friends came to bury him beside the car road a couple of days after his death. Photo 5-46 is of his wife, Naw D---, who is too heavily pregnant to be able to work in their hill field to provide food for her children. Instead, her younger brother Pa G--- shown in Photo 5-47 now has to provide for the family, though he is only 12 years old. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-48, 5-49: At 10 a.m. on October 19 th 2002, soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #44 Column 1 arrested 50 year old Saw Kya Khin from D--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District. He was executed the following day and his body was hidden, albeit poorly, in the forest beside a small stream. Photo 5-48 shows his only remains hidden amongst a pile of stones and leaves in this shallow grave. Photo 5-49 shows his widow Naw K--- and his two children. The villagers accuse the deputy battalion commander and the company 2 nd -in-command of his murder. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-50: This order document, sent to the village headwoman of L--- village in Kya In Township, Dooplaya District on October 23 rd 2002, is ordering her to attend a meeting the next day at the request of Column Commander T--- of LIB # xxx Column 2. Accompanying the letter was a 5.56 mm bullet from an Burmese Army MA-1 assault rifle as a very clear threat that if she did not attend, they would shoot the villagers. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-51: Saw M---, 42, from K--- village in Bilin township of Thaton District was wounded while portering for the SPDC. In late 2002 he was forced to accompany SPDC LIB #2 Column 1 (Battalion Commander Aung Zaw Win commanding) and carry a wounded SPDC Army soldier. When KNLA soldiers ambushed the column near Htee Maw Kee village, he was wounded twice in the buttocks and again on his thigh in the firefight. The SPDC soldiers did not provide him with any medical treatment for his wounds. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #2-27: On September 19 th 2002, SPDC troops killed the owner of this home in Bilin township of Thaton District and then ripped apart the house. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-52, 5-53, 5-54, 5-55, 5-56, 5-57: On August 28 th 2002 a mobile column of soldiers from SPDC LIB #366, LIB #367, and LIB #368 led by officers Soe Lwin, Myo Aung, and Maung Maung Oo came to M--- village in Ler Doh township of Nyaunglebin District and opened fire indiscriminately at the villagers. No KNLA troops were in the village, and all the villagers tried to flee. Pho tos 5-52 and 5-53 show Saw W---, 29, who was wounded in the foot. Photos 5-54 and 5-55 show 18-year-old Saw K---, who was wounded in his chest, his back, and his thigh. Photo 5-56 shows the grave of Naw Meh Leh, 29, a widow who was shot dead. Her brother returned to the village to bury her two days later, only to find her naked and that the soldiers had cut off her ears and one of her hands. Photo 5-57 shows her six month old son, Saw N---. His grandmother must now look after him. [Photos: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-58, 5-59, 5-60: Saw K---, 27 years old from H--- village in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. On July 24 th 2002 he was taking his betelnut to the market in S--- to exchange it for rice along with numerous other villagers. Villagers from hill areas are always at risk of being intercepted, detained and tortured or forced to porter by SPDC troops, so the group of villagers was being escorted by KNLA soldiers. Along the way they were seen by soldiers from SPDC LIB #255, who opened fire on them. During the ensuing skirmish between the SPDC and KNLA soldiers, Saw K--- received bullet and shrapnel wounds to his buttocks and back. Photos 5-59 and 5-60 show him being treated by one of the Karen medics who were accompanying them. There was no medicine to give him aside from painkillers. The medics were not carrying many medicines, and due to the continued SPDC activity in the area, he could not be transported out of the area to a clinic for proper treatment for several days. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-61, 5-62: Fifty-five year old Saw T--- had to flee his village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District and live at an IDP hiding place in the hills because of SPDC campaigns to depopulate villages. On July 2 nd 2002, he and his 19 year old son Saw P--- were returning from visiting Saw P---'s grandmother at T---. When they were crossing the Pwa Ghaw – Saw Hta military access road (see map ) near the already destroyed village of S---, SPDC soldiers saw them and immediately shot at them with small arms and mortars. Saw T--- received numerous wounds to his head and legs as shown in the photos. His son was not as seriously injured and was able to go for help, returning later with villagers who carried Saw T--- to safety. Saw T--- told KHRG, "I am only a villager. I do not work against them [the SPDC], but they shot at my son and I. We were both injured. My son wasn't hurt so badly, so he went to get people to carry me." This photo was taken in early August 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-51, 6-52, 6-53, 6-54: M---, age 30 (photos 6-51 and 6-52 ) was grabbed from the street by SPDC soldiers when on his way to see a movie near his Rangoon home on May 26 th 2002. He was detained together with 200 others who had been similarly rounded up, then sent to be an operations porter for SPDC LIB #9 Column 1 in Papun district. There he met Z---, age 35 (photos 6-53 and 6-54 ), who had been grabbed from the streets of Pegu (Bago) city on May 27 th while buying some fuel near his home. Part of a group of 65 porters rounded up from the towns of Burma and some taken from the prisons (see photos 6-95 and 6-96 in Section 6 [ Forced Labour ] ), they were forced to carry loads weighing 20 viss [33 kg. / 72 lb.] or more from Papun town across the mountains to the Da Gway (Dagwin) Army camp at Koh Ni Koh in Lu Thaw township, Papun District, on the bank of the Salween River where it forms the border with Thailand. Normally this would be a 3-4 day walk, but takes longer for a large military column with porters. The porters had to carry loads of food, ammunition, and medicines to supply Da Gway camp, which is inaccessible by road. Near Da Gway, M--- saw LIB #9 Column 1 soldiers shoot dead three porters because they were unable to continue with their loads. Treated like convict porters, M--- and Z--- had to share one mess tin of rice per day with a group of six people. After repeated trips and with no end in sight to the forced labour, M--- and Z--- fled together and escaped on July 21 st 2002. These photos were taken shortly after their escape, and show the wounds on both men from carrying heavy bamboo baskets and the emaciated condition, particularly of M---, caused by lack of adequate food. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-63: On May 8 th 2002, soldiers from LIB #301 commanded by Battalion Commander Min Din entered Htee P'Nweh village in Kya In township of Dooplaya District. Village elder Saw P---, age 40, tried to flee the village but was gunned down by the soldiers, hit by bullets in both thighs and his right ankle. The soldiers then accused the villagers of harbouring Karen resistance forces, ordered them to move to Meh T'Kreh relocation site within two weeks, and burned 10 of the village houses (see photos 2-41 and 2-42 and 3-21 through 3-26 in Sections 2 [ Attacks on Villages and Village Destruction ] and 3 [ Forced Relocation and Restrictions ] ). Saw P--- was left without treatment, and had to be treated by the villagers. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #9-22: Saw H--- was eighteen months old when this photo was taken in June 2002, and already both of his parents were dead. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him. Then on May 13 th 2002, SPDC soldiers from LIB #369 (Battalion Commander Myint Lwin commanding) came to Khaw Hta village in Nyaunglebin district, where he lived with his father. The other villagers fled but his father, Saw Baw Mu, was suffering from oedema and could not flee. Finding him alone in the village and defenceless on his bed, the soldiers stabbed him and then crushed his skull with a piece of wood. Saw H--- was left with nothing, not even his own clothes; in the photo he is wearing a throwaway girl's dress. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-64, 5-65, 5-66: Eastern Lu Thaw township of Papun District is a hill region which the SPDC has been trying to depopulate since 1997 by relocating and destroying villages and shooting villagers on sight. On May 8 th 2002, a combined column of SPDC LIB #366 and LIB #369 entered T--- village without warning and opened fire on the villagers. Photo 5-64 shows Saw M---, 67, who says he was lucky to escape with his life. His son Saw Pleh, however, was shot dead. Naw Y---, age 22 ( Photo 5-65 ), lost her mother and her younger sister Yeh Pu Day during the shootings. The next day the column went to D--- village and opened fire on the villagers there. Forty year old villager Saw T--- ( photo 5-66 ) sustained bullet wounds to his arm and abdomen. One of his friends was also killed in the incident. These photos were taken in August 2002. [Photos: KHRG researchers]
Photos #5-67, 5-68, 5-69, 5-70, 5-71, 5-72: These photos follow on from photos D4 to D7 in KHRG Photo Set 2002A. After being ordered to relocate along with other villages in Kya In township of Dooplaya district in April 2002, a group of villagers from Tee Law Bler tried to flee to Thailand. On April 28 th 2002 soldiers of SPDC IB #78, Battalion Commander Myo Htun Hlaing commanding, found them sleeping in farmfield huts not far from their village, surrounded the huts and opened fire, killing ten and wounding nine more. Six of those killed were children, four of them under the age of ten. All of those who survived the incident later arrived at Noh Po refugee camp in Thailand. Photo 5-67 shows U K---, 44, with his two surviving children, nine-year-old Saw N--- (left) and twelve-year-old Naw K--- (right). Photos 5-68 and 5-69 show the injuries to Saw N---'s arm from the shooting. The bullet penetrated his upper arm, shattering the bone. Photos 5-70 , 5-71 , and 5-72 show Naw K---'s wounds to her right forearm, and the homemade splint she was using. Their father told KHRG researchers: "We fled before the Burmese [soldiers] arrived. I fled with my wife and children to our field hut. We planned to go to Noh Po [refugee camp] in the morning, but before we could, they came and attacked us in the night time. It was about 10:00 or 12:00 [o'clock] when they attacked us. They shot at my hut and my brother's hut. They continued shooting for about five or six minutes. ... Three people in my family died and two were wounded. My wife was wounded but died 12 days later. Ten days after she was wounded she gave birth [the baby did not survive], but two days she later also died. ... I don't know why they wouldn't allow us to leave [to the refugee camp]. Maybe they thought that we would leave our children in Noh Po and would go back to fight them. I think that they are afraid that other people and other countries would learn about them so they didn't allow us to leave." His wife Naw Pee Lee is shown in photos D5 and D6 in KHRG Photo Set 2002A. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-73: Naw M---, 43 years old from M--- village, Mone township, Nyaunglebin District, became a widow when SPDC soldiers shot her husband dead in 2002 while he was returning to their village with food he had purchased in a nearby village. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-74: Saw M---, age 57, says he has been internally displaced and on the run from SPDC troops for over ten years in the hills of Toungoo District near his home village of M---. During that time he has been shot at by SPDC troops several times. In 1995 he was fleeing from IB #26 when he was shot in his left hand. In 2002 he was shot at again, this time by soldiers from IB #92, but was lucky to avoid injury. This photo was taken in April 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #9-1, 9-2: Twelve year old Saw S--- from T--- village, Toungoo District, displays a wound that SPDC soldiers inflicted upon him when he was only six. At that time, he and his family were internally displaced, living in a hut in their ricefield. SPDC Army soldiers found the hut, quietly approached it and opened fire. He was struck in the arm as his father attempted to carry him to safety. The bullet shattered the bone in his forearm, rendering his right arm unusable. For villagers living in the forest, any encounter with SPDC forces can be disastrous. Many are simply shot on sight with no questions asked. Photo 9-1 was taken in January 2004, while photo 9-2 was taken seven months later in August 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #9-18, 9-19: Saw P---, 12 years old when these photos were taken early in 2004, became fatherless at age nine when SPDC soldiers shot his father dead in his hill field in Papun District. Without a father, he must now work selling his services as a day labourer to help provide food and clothing for his mother and younger siblings. Photo 9-18 shows him ploughing a sugar cane plantation. Photo 9-19 was taken while he was boiling jaggery (crystallised from cane juice) for a fellow villager. Many children who lose their parents find themselves in similar situations. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-75: Saw T--- from M--- village in Bilin township, Thaton District lost his left arm when he was shot by SPDC Army soldiers. This photo was taken in January 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-76: Naw G---, 70 years old, from K--- village in Toungoo District, lost her 25 year old son Saw Po Htoh in June 1999 when he was shot dead by soldiers from SPDC LIB #439. Living alone as an internally displaced villager in the forests of Toungoo District, she must struggle daily to find enough food to eat. This photo was taken in June 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-77: Saw S---, 46, from T--- in Toungoo District. He was shot in the arm by soldiers of SPDC IB #20 Column 3 without warning or provocation on March 27, 1993. He was staying in his farmfield hut when the soldiers saw him and opened fire. His arm has never fully healed; even a full decade after the incident when this photo was taken in February 2003, he still requires a bandage and sling. Since the shooting he has had great difficulty in performing his daily tasks as a hill field farmer. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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