FBR REPORT: Relief Team Finds Bodies of Murdered IDPs
Karen State, Burma
19 April, 2006

 
 
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
 

Report Summary:  Relief team arrive at the bodies of Saw Maw Keh, the father, and the 80 Year old Grandmother of Naw Eh Ywah Paw, the 9 year old girl shot by the Burma Army on March 27, 2006. The team was also led to another body of a man tortured and killed by the Burma Army in a separate incident.
Note: Earlier, on 9 April, the team had met some of the survivors of this attack and treated Naw Eh Ywah Paw, the girl who was shot. It was her father and grandmother who’s bodies we found on 19 April 2006.

 
  Photos  



Sister and daughter of two villagers shot in March at their funeral service.  April 19, 2006.


Saw Maw Keh.  Killed March 27, 2006.


Villager tortured and killed early April. April 19, 2006.


Naw Eh Ywah Paw (flower who loves God) after treatment for a gun shot wound. It was her father and grandmother who’s bodies we found on 19 April 2006. Photo: April 10, 2006.

 
  Report from a relief team now in the field  

Today, April 19, 2006, our relief team went to find the bodies of Saw Maw
Keh and his 80 year old mother, who were shot and killed while fleeing Burma
Army attacks near their village of Ka Ba Hta, in Mon Township, Western Karen
State.  We were accompanied to the site by a small group of displaced people
who were still hiding in the area as well as some Karen resistance
volunteers. This group included Saw Maw Keh’s sister. She came out of the
displaced persons hiding place with her son and a family friend.  We found
the bodies lying 10 feet apart in a small gully on the side of a ridge. Two
of us, a villager and some of the resistance who led us here, climbed up to
the top of the ridge above the gully. The distance is only about 30-35
yards. There is jungle from the gully up for about 15 yards, and then the
last 15 yards is cleared to the top of the ridge. There is a small field house on top of the
ridge. This field house had been ransacked, the stored rice scattered,
utensils destroyed and bamboo salt containers broken opened and the contents
spilled on the bamboo floor. On the top of the ridge and behind some logs we
found many spent rifle shells. They were 5.56 of the type used in Burma Army
assault rifles. One of the villagers who was with us was also among those
fleeing and told us what happened that day (27 March). From where we were we
could see how it happened.  The people had fled the attacking Burma Army who
were sweeping the entire area. The villagers had been hiding in the gully.
Thinking that it would be safer to climb higher,
they had begun to leave the gully and climb to the top of the ridge. They
did not know the Burma Army was waiting for them. Saw Maw Keh was carrying
his mother up the steep slope and he was in the lead of the group. Behind
him was his family including his 9-year-old daughter, Naw Eh Ywa Paw (please
see earlier report of shot girl, 10 April). From where the Burma Army was
waiting there is a clearing (it is the villagers’ own rice field) that is
about 40 yards wide and 15 yards deep down to the edge of the jungle above
the gully. The Burma soldiers were waiting at the top of the ridge and
looking down into this clearing towards the gully.
 Saw Maw Keh carried his mother up the ridge out of the gully and into the
clearing. The Burma Army soldiers waited until the Saw Maw Keh and his
mother were in the cleared area, about 10-15 yards away from their position
behind the logs, and then opened fire. The shock of having a line of troops
open fire at point blank range must have been tremendous. Saw Maw Keh
dropped his mother (we are not sure if she was shot off his back or fell).
She cried out to him and as he turned to help her they both were shot dead.
His daughter, 9-year-old Naw Eh Ywa Paw was shot though the back as she ran
with the rest of the people.

She and the others managed to get away (see earlier report below and April
10 report on web site).
Because the presence of Burma Army patrols and the ongoing operation in this
area, it was only now that we could get to the bodies.

We talked with Saw Maw Keh’s sister who had come with us.
She told us, “Thank you for helping me arrive here. I could not come alone.
The enemy is always near, now I have seen it, thank you.”
We asked her how she felt and she replied,” I cannot do anything, I feel so
sad, that is my mother. If I could, I would burn the whole world up. What
can I do?  I am so sad, I am so angry.”

We told her we would do anything she wanted. She said she was a Christian
and that she wanted to give her mother and brother a service and asked us to
help and to burn the bodies. We piled wood up over the remains and then
cremated them. While the wood was burning we prayed for the two who were
killed and all of us sang a hymn together. She cried and then said,”Thank
you, it is a help to me, I am sad but it is now a little better, God bless
you”.

As we prepared to leave the team talked together.” The Burma Army waited in
a prepared position to kill villagers. They waited until they were only 10
yards away and opened fire on a man carrying his mother and as well as the
families and children behind him. What kind of people, what kind of system
can do this? A depraved one.”

Another member of the team summarized it like this, “The Burma Army soldiers
shot at the families who were slowly climbing up toward them.  It was when
we saw the place where the bodies lay that the reality of what took place
finally became clear.  This was not a case of startled soldiers shooting
wildly at people by mistake. This was not a case of soldiers shooting at a
large group of people from hundreds of yards away.  Burma Army soldiers shot
at a father, carrying his sick grandmother and walking with his 9-year-old
daughter, from point blank range. And they continued to fire at the other
people as they ran away.”

Later that day, we were led to a third body in a different area. This man
was found dead on the side of a trail. He was not part of the group
described above and had died more recently. He been tortured with one of his
eyes pulled out and his nose cut off. No one knows who he is. He may be one
of the men captured and missing from another village in a different valley.
We are trying to find out.

This is a tragic situation and is tragic not only for the people involved
here but for all of Burma. We thank all of you who care and for how you
stand in different ways with and for the oppressed of Burma. God bless you,
A FBR relief team. 19 April 2006.

*Coordinates of the site where the father and grandmother were killed:
Latitude/Longitude: N 18 36 44.6    E 096 47 52.2  Vicinity of Ka Ba Hta,
Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State, Burma.
*Coordinates of the site, where the tortured man’s body was found:
Latitude/Longitude: N 18 37 44.9   E 096 47 44.8
Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State, Burma.

 
  Interviews with Survivors  

Below are interviews conducted 9 April, with some survivors of this attack.
For more information please see the April 10 report with photographs at
www.freeburma rangers.org

I) Interview of Naw Bee Kho (Her husband and 80 year old mother-in-law were
killed in this attack on 27 March 2006, and her 9 year old daughter wounded;
shot in the back)
Note 1:  First Husband was a Karen soldier (KNU/KNLA) and killed by Burma
Army. Her first three children are from this marriage.  Her second husband
(killed March 27th 2006) was a farmer and the younger brother of her first
husband.

Note 2: Same Incident is recorded in the interview that follows this one;
Interview with  Maw Kwa Kwa, 9 April 2006

  • Name: Naw Bee Kho
  • Age: 28 years old mother of four.
  • Husband’s Name (killed 27 March 2006): Maw Keh.  
  • Age: 34 years
  • Occupation: Farmer.
  •  Childrens’ Names from 1st Husband- killed earlier by the Burma Army:
    • Naw Eh Ywa Paw (shot in the back)            Girl, age 9
    • Naw Paw Ka Pru Wah                                 Girl, age 7
    • Naw Paw Gay Wah                                      Girl Age: 4
  • Children’s Name from 2nd Husband- killed two weeks ago 27 March 2006.
    • Saw Htoo Ka Paw Doh:                                Boy, age 8 months old
  • Village: Ka Ba Hta, Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State
  • Religion: Christian
  • Occupation: Farmer
  • Education: None
  • Birthplace: Awe Bala

 “My family and I were hiding in an area near Ta Kweh Wah Hta.  Many other
families were there as well.  When we had to move to another place, no one
knew where the next hiding place was. My mother in law (80 years old), at
this time was sick and could not walk.  My husband carried his mother on his
back.  My husband, his mother and my 9 year old daughter went ahead of our
main group.  When we were walking up a ridgeline, Burma Army soldiers began
to shoot at us.  My husband’s mother fell off his back in the shooting.  His
mother called him and he went back to help her. The Burma Army then shot my
mother in law in the neck and my husband in the chest.  Both fell down and
all of our group scattered. My 9 year old daughter ran to me and I saw that
she was shot.  At first she was able to walk on her own, but later she was
not able to. I asked a friend that was with us to help me.  My friend had
two sick children that she and her husband were carrying.  But my friend’s
husband still helped and carried my daughter while my friend carried her
children.  We arrived at Thet Baw Der and asked for help.  They sent us to
Ka Hsaw Kaw and a nurse treated my daughter there.  The nurse was worried
about security because we were on the front line. If something happened it
would be difficult for us to help each other.  So the nurse advised us to
move to a higher place.  My brother in law came and treated the bullet wound
to my daughter’s stomach.  We then started moving again and have arrived
where we are now. -End of interview-

Interview of Maw Kwa Kwa (Brother in law and mother in law killed, 9 year
old niece shot in stomach.) 9 April 2006
 Note: This is the same incident that is recorded in the interview above
with Naw Bee Kho, 9 April 2006.

  • Name: Maw Kwa Kwa                    Age: 34 years old
  • Wife’s Name: Naw O Moo                Age: 39 years old
  • Child’s Name: Naw Wah Sti Nah      Age: 3 years old
  • Village: Ka Ba Hta, , Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen
    State.
  • Religion: Christian
  • Occupation: Farmer
  • Education: None
  • Birthplace: Thay Thoo Ke

Situation in Mon Township last year (2005): ” The Burma Army activity was as
usual, patrolling, attacking and land mining villages.”
 Situation in Mon Township this year (2006):  ” The Burma Army has increased
its activities”.
What is Burma Army doing? “They are patrolling around Ka Ba Hta area burning
and destroying rice supplies.”
 In Nya Mu Ke village area (20-30 houses) they have burned 20 rice
storage barns.
 In Lo Lo village in Kwae Ee Doh area they have burned 3 houses.

  They destroyed 100 tins of rice that belonged to Ka Ba Hta village.
  They stole 60 tins of milled rice from a KNLA rice storage barn.
How long have you been hiding?  “2 weeks”.
How long have you been walking?  “3 days”.
Where will you go?
“We will stay here and if the situation gets better in our area we will
return.”
What do you need?
“What you see is what we have. We came without food and what we are wearing
are our only clothes.”
What happened?
“In March 2006, 3 columns of Burma Army troops from Ma La Daw, Mu Thay and
Myaw Oo Army camps, came to our area. When we learned that the Burma Army
was at Gwe Doh Kah village, we moved to Htee Neh Eh Lo village (1/2 hour
from Ka Ba Hta village).  We stayed at Htee Neh Eh Lo for two weeks.  We
learned that the Burma Army was increasing its activities, and were heading
to our hiding place so we moved to Law Pla Ke village.  On 27 March we began
to move and the Burma Army started shooting at us from a ridgeline above us,
while we were in an open area.  My brother in law was carrying his sick
mother who was 80 years old.  When the Burma Army started shooting my
brother in law dropped his mother. His mother called out saying “I’ve been
shot, come back!”  My brother in law went back for his mother. When he got
to her both of them were shot and killed. The rest of the villagers and
family scattered.  After a while my niece who is 9 years old came back
holding her stomach and told me she was shot but was able to keep walking.
When she was no longer able to walk she asked her mother if she could be
carried. But her mother was already carrying two of her younger children.
We asked a friend to carry her. We were able to get to the Mon Township
clinic and get treatment (dress her wounds) but they did not have enough
medicine to give her.  So we have now walked 3 days to get to another clinic
to receive treatment and medicine. -End of Interview-

ENDS