Type of Incident

SAC [State Administration Council[2]] indiscriminate shelling

Date of Incident(s)

November 11th 2024

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

A--- village, Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract[3], Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, Taw Oo District

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Unknown

Unknown

SAC Artillery Unit [unknown number]

Ba Yin Naung army camp in Thandaunggyi Town

Cantonment Area Commander (name unknown)

1. Explain in detail how this information was collected.

Saw I--- and Saw J---, two local leaders [specific position censored for security] from Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract, informed me [the KHRG researcher] about this incident. Then, I [the KHRG researcher] contacted the village head from A--- village and went to meet him. The village head called [some of] the villagers [Naw B---, Saw K---, Saw C---, and Naw E---] whose houses [and property] were damaged and I [the KHRG researcher] conducted interviews with them.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

This information was verified by [the villagers interviewed by the KHRG researcher]: Naw B---, Saw K---, and two other villagers, Saw C--- and Naw E---, whose houses [or property] were damaged. Naw B--- and Saw K--- are the daughter and son of Saw D---.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

On November 11th 2024, at around 2 pm, SAC soldiers from an artillery unit in Bi Yin Naung army camp, Thandaunggyi Town, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, Taw Oo District, indiscriminately fired three rounds of mortar into Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract, Daw Hpah Hkoh Township, Taw Oo District. On that day, fighting did not happen in the area, but the SAC still fired mortar rounds into the area [Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract]. Local villagers do not know what type of mortar the SAC used. One of the mortar shells landed and exploded in A--- village, Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract, while the other two landed and exploded outside the village [and did not cause any damage].

The mortar shell that landed in the village exploded in front of the house of Saw D---. The mortar shell damaged the house and household materials, such as a big plastic bottle containing rice [which weighted 10 viss[6]], cooking pots, and the house’s zinc roof, wooden floor, ladder, and bamboo wall. A betel nut tree, a mango tree, and a papaya tree owned by Saw D---, as well as a motorbike owned by his son [Saw K---], were damaged. The shrapnel also hit and injured Saw D---’s dog, on the leg.

In addition, other six villagers’ houses, owned by Naw B---, Saw C---, Naw E---, Saw F---, Naw G--- and Saw H---, suffered minor damages. The roof and two windows of the church were also damaged.

No local villager was injured or killed by the mortar shell’s explosion in the village. However, it caused fear and panic among the villagers. Local children were attending school in the village when the SAC fired the mortars. The children in the school were afraid, so they started crying loudly. Their parents, worried about their children, quickly went to pick them up from the school and fled to their plantations near the village. Other villagers hid in their makeshift bunkers. Some villagers had to stop cooking to hide in their bunkers when the shelling happened.

Due to the SAC shelling, some villagers were afraid to sleep in their houses and instead slept in their makeshift bunkers. According to Saw C---, a villager whose house was damaged by the SAC shelling: “Due to the shelling, we do not feel secure living in our village. We worry about our safety. We are afraid to sleep in our houses, so we go to sleep in the bunkers.” Naw B--- also said: “When the mortar shell landed and exploded in front of my father [Saw D---]’s house, I was standing near the incident place. My mother and my sister were also near the incident place, but, luckily, we were not hit by the mortar shell. We were very afraid. My sister felt dizzy [due to the loud explosion of the mortar shell] and she was very frightened.” 

Local villagers do not know why the SAC fired mortars into Day Loh Mu Nu Lar village tract. As explained by Saw C---: “I don’t know why they [SAC] conducted the shelling into our village. […] Fighting did not happen in our area. I think they [SAC] just wanted to fire mortars. Also, there are no Karen soldiers [Karen National Liberation Army[7]] in our area.” He added: “They [SAC] did not apologise to villagers for what they did and also they did not pay any compensation [for the damage].”

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

Villagers who I [the KHRG researcher] interviewed and local authorities from A--- village gave KHRG permission to publish this information.