PHOTOS: THE SHELLING OF KYAUN SEIN VILLAGE

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
March 1993

In mid-February 1993, a mine exploded on a road not far from Kyaun Sein village, in Pa’an Township, Thaton District.  Two SLORC military trucks were damaged.  SLORC troops immediately went to Kyaun Sein village and demanded 70,000 Kyats compensation, but the villagers couldn’t pay.  Two days later later another SLORC convoy came.  Without warning, they fired 3 morter shells into Kyaun Sein village, killing one man ( Maung Hla Shwe, age 35) and wounding a 75-year-old woman (Pi Thu Meh) and her 10-year-old granddaughter (Naw Kaw Soe).  No Karen soldiers were anywhere near the village at the time.

The troops later entered the village and tried to accuse the Karen Army of the shelling, though they also said the villagers were being punished for "not guarding the road".  Compensation was demanded again, and this time the villagers were so terrified that they collected over 20,000 Kyats and paid.

Over a month later, 75-year-old Pi Thu Meh reportedly died from her foot injury, while her granddaughter can no longer walk, having been hit by a piece of shrapnel right through her calf.

For more details, see the related Karen Human Rights Group report "Report from Thaton District" (10/3/93). The photos below are courtesy of the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA).

[Note: Clicking on a photo will provide an enlargement of the photo]

Photos #1, 2:  These photos were taken as the villagers fled Kyaun Sein village during the shelling.

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Photo #3:  The corpse of Maung Hla Shwe, age 35, killed in th shelling of Kyaun Sein.  He was a Karen farmer, with a wife and 4 children aged 2 to 11.