Across Southeastern Burma, civilians remain in crisis due to the military junta, according to the NGO Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM).
Internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled their villages in Karen State were again attacked by the junta while seeking safety.
At around midnight on 19 February, the junta air forces shelled an area where IDPs were temporarily sheltering in the southern part of Kawkareik, in the area controlled by Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 6.
At least three IDPs, including a child, were injured. A local service provider team member confirmed that three individuals, Naw Hla Htwe, age 36, Saw Pha Kyaw Do, age 44, and a 14-year-old girl, were hit in the attack.
“Although the military targets armed opposition groups, including People’s Defense Forces, their assaults affect innocent people. Now, they repeatedly attack people who fled their homes. They are committing war crimes, and we urgently need help from those who can stop these terrorist groups,” a local emergency response member who spoke to HURFOM said.
Karen State was hit hard by the junta’s violence over the last week. Junta forces indiscriminately fired heavy weapons into Karen villages in Phyue Township, under the control of KNU Brigade 2 and killed an innocent woman on 21 February 2023. Two children, ages 5 and 12, were also seriously injured, and two innocent people were arbitrarily arrested and tortured.
“Three mortars exploded on Ma Myint Myint San’s home. All of the household family members were inside. The perpetrator was junta Light Infantry Battalion No. 599, led by Captain Min Aung, who intentionally fired 120 mm of artillery shells into the village of Kyuntaw.
“Ma Myint Myint San, aged 38, died on the spot as a result of the explosion, while his daughter, Ma Hnin Myat Mon, 12, was hit in the right leg, and his son, Maung Yan Lin, age 5, was hit in his left leg and was seriously injured.”
People who spoke to HURFOM reported that junta forces had burned down more than 165 houses in two days in their village, Kadae, in Tanintharyi Region’s Palaw Township. They said that everything that they had worked for all their lives was now gone. There were approximately 400 households in Kadae Village, according to the census.
“Those burned houses and buildings included a monastery, trucks and other vehicles as well as properties worth 800 million Myanmar Kyat”, said a 35-year-old villager who fled the conflict.
Since the night of 15 February, more than 2,000 residents of Kade Village have taken refuge in nearby forests and farms. According to HURFOM they need urgent aid.
Palaw Township, was one of the areas bought under martial law by the junta on 2 February 2023.
The junta has increased the use of banned landmines in Martial Law imposed areas, including southern Mon state. In three weeks, the civilians injured by indiscriminate landmines were wounded at least three seriously, according to the reports from the HURFOM field team.
The latest indiscriminate landmine victim was Nai Nyunt Wei, age 40, originally from Mawkanin Village, in Mon State’s Ye Township, who was seriously injured by a landmine near a bridge on 17 February. The location was near the notorious junta Infantry Battalion No. 106. On 2 February 2023, a 55-year-old man from the same village returned from his plantation by motorbike and stepped on a landmine near Joe Ta Dar stream. He suffered a leg injury and was treated at Lamine Hospital.
Because there have been so many injuries from landmines in the area, for the last two or three weeks, local farmers have been afraid to go out to their fields and have started to give up farming. This means they no longer have a livelihood.
These numbers are based on reports from HURFOM data, network members, the media and civil society organisations starting from 7 February 2021.
