Photos from 1995: Set 95-A

This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 95-A, covering the fall of Manerplaw, porters, new refugees, attacks on Karen refugee camps, the fall of Kawmoora, SLORC abuse of Karen refugees in late 1994, and Chin State. The photos relate to information in the following KHRG reports:

Title	Abbreviation	Number	Date
"SLORC Shootings and Arrests of Refugees" "Porters: Manerplaw and Kaw Moo Rah Areas" "Chemical Shells at Kaw Moo Rah" "SLORC Abuses in Chin State" "SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive" "Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive" "New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps"	'Shootings' 'Porters 1' 'Chemical' 'Chin' 'Offensive' 'Porters 2' 'Attacks'	95-02 95-07 95-08 95-09 95-10 95-12 95-16	14/1/95 25/2/95 24/2/95 15/3/95 29/3/95 8/4/95 5/5/95

Numbers in this list correspond to numbers written on the backs of the photos. Due to limited resources, some photos in the list may not be included in the set mailed. Further copies can be obtained by notifying KHRG and paying the costs involved. Peoples' names given here correspond to those used in the reports; names which have been changed to protect people are enclosed in quotes. These photos may be used in any way to help the people of Burma.

Photos #1,2: The body of Day Wah, age 27, the primary school teacher at Noh Pa Doh refugee village, Thailand. He was shot by SLORC soldiers when he crossed the Moei River to the Burma side to go fishing on October 29, 1994. As 4 villagers tried to escape back across the river into Thailand, he jumped into a small boat in order to rescue a woman who couldn't swim, and the soldiers shot him in the chest ['Shootings', p. 6-9].

Photo #3: The place on the Moei River where Day Wah and Ah Toe, age 18, were shot dead, as seen from the Thai side. The refugees came to the river on the open ground left of the bamboos, while the soldiers were hiding among the tall bamboo on the right ['Shootings', p. 6-9]. Ah Toe's body was never recovered. He died 5 days before his wedding.

Photo #4: Day Wah's mother, "Pi Muh Thay", age 67, also a refugee in Noh Pa Doh, Thailand ['Shootings', p. 9]. She has now lost 4 of her 8 children to disease and SLORC. Day Wah was her only son.

Photo #5: The primary school at Noh Pa Doh. Day Wah's lesson from the day before is still on the blackboard. After he was killed the school had to shut down until they could find another teacher. ['Shootings', p.6-9]

Photo #6: "Aung Htoo", 35, and his aunt, refugees in Kler Ko refugee camp, Thailand. Aung Htoo, who has a leg badly deformed from polio, can only walk with great difficulty. He and his uncle Pleh Ghaw crossed into Burma on October 30, 1994 to collect betelnut. SLORC soldiers appeared, arrested "Aung Htoo" and tied him up, and shot Pleh Ghaw twice in the chest to kill him. Pleh Ghaw, 35, left 3 children. His widow (in the photo) said: "My head feels very heavy, and my eyes are dark." ['Shootings', p. 5]

Photo #7: "Saw Ler Thu", 30, a refugee at Don Pa Kiang, Thailand. He crossed the Moei River with 5 others to find bamboo shoots on Sept. 3, 1994. SLORC soldiers opened fire on them, wounding "Saw Ler Thu" in the foot but he escaped. Saw Kwe Tha, 39, was hit in the leg and captured, then executed with a knife. ['Shootings', p. 19]

Photo #8: Saw Kwe Tha's wife, "Naw Paw Ghay", age 38. Her husband, 39, went across the Moei River to find bamboo shoots on Sept. 3, 1994, and was shot in the leg by SLORC soldiers. They captured him, then executed him with a knife in his belly. ['Shootings', p.19-20] He left 5 children aged 1 month to 12 years.

Photo #10: "Daw Hla Thein", 65, and "Pi Lah Ghay", 74, refugees at Noh Pa Doh, Thailand. "Daw Hla Thein"'s husband Maung Kyaw Pu, who is 55 and suffers from gastritis, and "Pi Lah Ghay"'s son Saw Tah Kee, who is 30 and physically handicapped, have been held by SLORC LIB #9 of #44 Light Infantry Division since they crossed the Moei River on Oct. 29th to work their peanut field. No news has been heard of them, and since the beginning no one has been allowed to visit them. Other refugees now believe they have been executed. KHRG has requested UN and Amnesty International action on their behalf since January 1995. ['Shootings', p.10-12]

Photos #11,12: "Thein Lwin", 24, a Burmese Muslim from Kyaikkaw who escaped being a porter at age 14 and has lived among the Karen ever since, now a refugee at Noh Pa Doh in Thailand. In Sept/Oct 1994 he crossed the Moei River to do field work, was arrested by SLORC soldiers, then beaten and tortured for several days. He escaped just before the soldiers were going to execute him. Photo 11 shows a patch on his left temple where the hair still doesn't grow because of the beatings, and Photo 12 shows the lingering scars from the iron bar they rolled up and down his shins. They also put plastic bags over his head to suffocate him. ['Shootings', p. 9-10]

Photo #13: Chin refugees in Bangladesh after SLORC threatened to kill everyone in their village because some relatives of local police officials had gone missing. ['Chin', p. 1-3]

Photos #14,15: Some of the Karen soldiers wounded during SLORC's final assault on Manerplaw. ['Offensive', p.2-3]

Photo #16: The slope below Manerplaw's monastery a few days after it was occupied by SLORC. The writing reads "Strategic Command 661, LIB 10", identifying a Light Infantry Battalion which is part of SLORC's #66 Light Infantry Division, one of the Divisions that attacked Manerplaw. SLORC has repeatedly claimed that none of its troops attacked or occupied Manerplaw. ['Offensive', p.2-3]

Photo #17: The same spot as Photo #16 shortly afterwards - the SLORC Army lettering has been hastily rubbed out and changed to read 'DKBA' to suit the SLORC's claim that it was the DKBA that overran Manerplaw. ['Offensive', p. 2-3]

Photo #18: The DKBA flag flies on the charred remains of an office in central Manerplaw. These offices were burned by the withdrawing KNLA troops. ['Offensive', p. 2-3]

Photo #19: A SLORC or DKBA soldier stands guard over the ruins of the National Democratic Front (NDF) office in Manerplaw.

Photo #20: A Thai helicopter arrives with troops to guard the border shortly after Manerplaw fell.

Photo #21: A SLORC truck hauls soldiers, porters and looted goods out of Manerplaw 2-3 weeks after Manerplaw fell. A road was quickly bulldozed southward to Meh Tha Waw.

Photo #22: A SLORC soldier in uniform (left centre) watches over civilian porters (right centre) carrying supplies between new SLORC outposts just south of Manerplaw, mid-February 1995.

Photos #23,24: Karen soldiers showing white phosphorus burns from SLORC's final assault on Kawmoora on Feb. 21, 1995. SLORC used siege mortars, white phosphorus shells and chemical gas shells that drove the Karen from their positions. ['Chemical']

Photos #25,26: 2-3 days after the fall of Kawmoora, Burmese soldiers push a dead body out into the Moei River, its hands still tied behind its back. The soldier with the long bamboo pole is wearing a Burmese Army uniform shirt. The body may be that of a mentally retarded Karen 'cadet' who had been 'adopted' by the soldiers at Kawmoora. When the troops had to withdraw, he refused all their efforts to take him and insisted on staying. Otherwise, the body may be that of a conscripted civilian porter, but it appears to be dressed in khaki.

Photo #27: The SLORC flag flies slightly above the DKBA flag at Kawmoora's main gate. SLORC claimed that only the DKBA was in Kawmoora.

Photos #28,29,30,31: Karen refugees who flooded across the border after the Manerplaw area fell to SLORC ['Offensive', p. 3-8].

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[Note: photos 32 thru 38 relate to the Meh Po / Huay Heng truck ambush, documented in 'Offensive' p. 9-10 & 34-36.]

Photo #32: Due to SLORC troops repeatedly crossing the border after Manerplaw fell, refugees at Mae Paw Muh Hta fled to Meh Po Kee further inside Thailand. On Feb. 23, trucks were moving them to a safer location at Huay Heng when at 5-5:30 p.m. a SLORC/DKBA force ambushed a truck with automatic rifle fire and an M79 grenade, killing 3 and wounding 12. Dead were Udorn Khieumool, 40, the Thai truck driver (centre, with Thai police taking his fingerprints), Naw May Paw, 36, who was 5 months pregnant (left), and Naw Peh, 60 (right, not visible). The truck is in the background, its windshield shot out. ['Offensive', p.9-10, 34-36] See also following photos.

Photo #33: Udorn Khieumool, 40, the Thai truck driver from Mae Sariang killed in the Huay Heng ambush. He was killed immediately by multiple bullet wounds, his hands still on the wheel. Nobody dared go to the scene until the next morning, when rigormortis had already set in. Naw Peh's body is in the foreground.

Photo #34: Naw Peh, 60, a Karen refugee from Mae Paw Muh Hta. She was shot in the back as she tried to jump out of the truck, and the bullet left a large exit wound in her belly. She left a husband, 5 children and several grandchildren.

Photo #35: The bodies of Naw Peh (left) and Naw May Paw (right). Naw May Paw, 36, was shot in the back of the head before she could get off the truck. She was 5 months pregnant, and left behind her husband and several young children.

Photo #36: Naw May Paw's young son, who was left behind when the wounded fled the truck and spent the entire night huddled by the body of his dead mother before being found there the next morning.

Photos #37,38: The truck which was attacked. The back was piled with refugees and their belongings, and there were 2 Thais and one Karen refugee in the cab.

Photo #39: Biscuit tins showing bullet holes in the house beside the camp leader's house, Baw Noh refugee camp, after the March 15 attack by about 20 DKBA and SLORC troops. They aimed to kill the camp leader but he was staying elsewhere. The house in the photo also had its front blown off by an M79 grenade. As they stormed through the camp, the attackers killed 2 refugees and wounded 3 more. ['Offensive', p.13]

Photos #40,41: "Hla Maung", a 14-year-old Muslim boy who was taken at gunpoint from his house at 3 a.m. on Jan. 25th by a truckload of SLORC soldiers to be a porter in the Manerplaw area. He was only given one small meal in the first 4 days, then escaped after 8 days. His back shows scars from the basket in which he was forced to carry 3 mortar shells. ['Porters 1', p. 3]

Photos #42,43: A 15-year old girl from Papun District who was taken as a porter in February for SLORC's offensive in the upper Salween area. She was finally released at Kyauk Nyat, but while trying to make her way home she stepped on a landmine which blew off her lower right leg. This photo was taken only a few hours afterward. (Related report forthcoming)

Photo #44: A 16-year old girl from Papun District, also hit by the landmine explosion on her way home from being a forced porter in SLORC's Salween offensive (see photos 42-43). This girl is now blind. (Related report forthcoming)

Photo #45: 14-year-old girls who were taken as porters during February for SLORC's upper Salween offensive. Girls like these continue to be taken as porters in the area.

Photos #46,47,48: The body of a civilian porter murdered by SLORC troops, seen floating in the Salween River in late February just downstream from SLORC's new army camp at Kyauk Nyat. He was most likely tied up and then stabbed to death or had his throat cut. ['Porters 2']. (These photos courtesy of Burmese Relief Centre.)

Photo #49: Refugees scrape for remnants of their belongings in Section 1 of Mae Ra Mu Klo (Mae Ra Ma Luang) refugee camp in Thailand after it was attacked by a large DKBA/SLORC force on April 25. 170 houses were burned. The attackers entered the camp from the stream valley in the centre background of the photo, and advanced toward the camera. ['Attacks', p. 3-4, 7-11]

Photo #50: The Section 1 rice storehouse in Mae Ra Mu Klo camp. The rice was still burning when this photo was taken 2 days after the attack. In the storehouse 905 sacks (90,500 kg.) of rice were destroyed, as well as 1,500 kg. of salt, 29 large tins of fishpaste, 2,640 blankets, and 1,760 mosquito nets. This is above and beyond the things destroyed in people's houses - most families lost everything they had. ['Attacks', p. 3-4, 7-11]

Photo #51: 9 people were wounded and one 82-year-old man killed in the attack on Mae Ra Mu Klo. This photo shows U Mya Maung, age 84, in the camp hospital. He is deaf, cannot see well and cannot walk on his own. He was caught in his house when the DKBA set it alight, could not get out and was severely burned on several parts of his body. ['Attacks', p. 3-4] The other burn victim, Pu Pu, age 82, died of his burns.

Photo #52: Ma Aye, age 21. When the attackers entered Mae Ra Mu Klo they yelled for no one to run, but she tried to flee with her 3-month old baby in her arms so they shot her. The bullet entered the back of her shoulder and exited through the front. ['Attacks', p. 3, 10]

Photo #53,54,55,56,57: Some of the ruins of Baw Noh (Meh Tha Waw) refugee camp, attacked and burned by 100 well-armed DKBA and SLORC troops on April 28. Over 700 homes were destroyed, making several thousand refugees homeless just before the onset of rainy season. People can be seen wandering through the wreckage looking for any remaining belongings or usable bits of metal, etc. ['Attacks', p.4-5,11-14]. Photo #54: the remains of a camp well, polluted and partly dried by the fire. Photo #56: the fire spread and burned hot enough to melt glass and crack concrete, as seen by the remains of this bathroom. Photo #57: refugees camp out on the ruins of their former house. On the right you can see the underground bunker they have built to take refuge from any further shelling.

Photo #58: The DKBA in Baw Noh were looking for Pastor Abraham, the Seventh-Day Adventist pastor. He and his family were forced to hide in two covered holes under their house. The DKBA set the house alight, but they didn't dare come out. Finally most of the family fled the holes with severe burns, but their 18-year old daughter Naw Geh Moo Paw, a 10th standard student, was caught under the burning house and burned to death in this hole. ['Attacks', p.4-5, 11-14]. Pastor Abraham and his wife reportedly died of their burns several days later.

Photo #59: The grave of Naw Geh Moo Paw was only marked by a few small fragments of charred bone, such as the one projecting from top centre into the centre of this photo.

Photo #60: Part of an 81 mm. mortar shell which was fired into Baw Noh camp during the attack. While the DKBA and SLORC troops entered the front of the camp, 81 mm. mortar support was fired into the back half of the camp from the SLORC position on the Burma side of the border about 2 km. away. 2 refugees were wounded by 81 mm. fragments. ['Attacks', p. 4-5, 11-14]

Photo #61: Remains of an RPG-7 shell which was fired in Baw Noh refugee camp during the April 27 attack. ['Attacks', p. 4-5, 11-14]

Photos #62,63: Some of the remains of Kamaw Lay Ko refugee camp, which was attacked and burned by up to 100 DKBA and SLORC troops on April 25. About 300 homes were burned and destroyed. ['Attacks', p. 5-6, 14-16]