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KHRG #98-04 Part 3/7 (Camp attacks)



                    ATTACKS ON KAREN REFUGEE CAMPS: 1998

           An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
                     May 29, 1998     /     KHRG #98-04

  *** PART 3 OF 7; SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***


                               Index of Interviews

Note:  All names of those interviewed have been changed.


 #  Pg.    Name           Sex Age  Camp / Section        Subject

H1  18  "Naw Eh Moo"        F 24  Huay Kaloke Section 4  Description of
attack, 
                                                         injuries and
deaths, 
                                                         list of wounded
and those 
                                                         beaten by Thais,
fleeing 
                                                         with her children,

                                                         opinions on Thais

H2  20  "Saw Lah Po"        M 25  Huay Kaloke Section 1  Witnessed entry
into camp 
                                                         of main attack
force, shot at 
                                                         and ran, burning
of houses, 
                                                         mother wounded by
a shell

H3  21  "Naw Eh"            F 38  Huay Kaloke Section 7  Witnessed vehicles
entering 
                                                         camp before
attack, fleeing 
                                                         the shelling, DKBA
on drugs, 
                                                         return of vehicles
3 days 
                                                         later, threats by
Thai 
                                                         soldiers, opinions
on Thai 
                                                         complicity,
reasons for 
                                                         fleeing Burma

H4  24  "Saw Lah"           M 52  Huay Kaloke Section 1  Burning of their
house, 
        "Naw Wah"           F 43  Huay Kaloke Section 1  encounter with
DKBA soldiers 
                                                         who threatened to
kill them 
                                                         then robbed them,
attackers 
                                                         threatening other
refugees

H5  26  "Naw Eh Say"        F 30  Huay Kaloke Section 1  Fleeing the
attack, caught 
                                                         and threatened at
gunpoint 
                                                         by DKBA

H6  26  "Saw Ghay Htoo"     M 30  Huay Kaloke Section 11 Suspicious
activity by Thais, 
                                                         avoiding shells,
DKBA soldier 
                                                         tried to kill him,
Burmese 
                                                         together with DKBA

H7  28  "Saw Po Gyi"        M 38  Huay Kaloke Section 11 Shelling of the
camp, caught 
                                                         and threatened by
DKBA soldiers

H8  29  "Naw K'Paw Wah"     F 45  Huay Kaloke Section 4  Fleeing with her
children, 
                                                         trapped when
returned to save 
                                                         belongings,
burning of houses, 
                                                         trying to reach
children, 
                                                         fired on, wounded
by M79 grenade

H9  30  "Saw Hsah Hay Mu"   M 33  Huay Kaloke Section 1  Medic on duty
night of the 
                                                         attack, wife hit
by a bullet, 
                                                         fleeing with his
wounded wife, 
                                                         surrounded and
threatened by 
                                                         attackers, saw
Burmese soldiers

H10 32  "Saw Eh Doh Htoo"   M 30  Huay Kaloke Section 1  Witnessed vehicles
entering the 
                                                         camp, shot at by
attackers, 
                                                         friend wounded

H11 32  "Pu K'Mwee Htoo"    M 58  Huay Kaloke Section 4  Witnessed vehicles
entering the 
                                                         camp, fled
shelling into school 
                                                         toilets, fired on
while hiding 
                                                         there

H12 33  "Saw Tamla"         M 50  Huay Kaloke Section 5  Fleeing into the
fields, 
                                                         returned to save
belongings, 
                                                         stopped and beaten
by Thai 
                                                         soldiers

H13 34  "Pi Ber Tha"        F 70  Huay Kaloke Section 6  Fled to the
fields, witnessed 
                                                         others beaten by
Thai soldiers, 
                                                         then kicked by
Thai soldiers 
                                                         herself, still in
pain days 
                                                         later

H14 34  "Saw Klaw Wah"      M 47  Huay Kaloke            Fleeing carrying
youngest son, 
                                                         kicked and beaten
with a gun 
                                                         by Thai soldiers
in the fields, 
                                                         still suffering
internal pain

H15 35  "Saw Lay Htoo"      M 50  Huay Kaloke Section 5  Fled to the
fields, slapped and 
                                                         punched by Thai
soldiers for not 
                                                         understanding Thai
even though 
                                                         he is sick with TB

M1  36  "Saw Kaser Doh"     M 40+ Maw Ker Section 6      Saw attackers
arrive, 
                                                         description of
attack, 
                                                         shelling and
burning of houses, 
                                                         Burmese soldiers,
attackers 
                                                         asking for
Muslims,  
                                                         Thai response to
attack

M2  37  "Saw Say Muh"       M 30+ Maw Ker Section 6      Shelling of the
camp, 
        "Naw Paw Thu"       F 30+ Maw Ker Section 6      confusion of
soldiers, 
                                                         encounter with
soldiers, 
                                                         burning of their
house, 
                                                         Thai response to
attack

M3  38  "Daw Sein"          F 25  Maw Ker                Shot in the hand
while trying 
                                                         to flee with her
baby, 
                                                         finger later
amputated, 
                                                         description of
other wounded, 
                                                         burning of houses
and 
                                                         monastery, Burmese
troops

M4  39  "Saw Say Po"        M 30+ Maw Ker Section 1      2-year-old
daughter wounded 
                                                         by shell,
description of 
                                                         other wounded

M5  40  "Saw Tha Muh"       M 20+ Maw Ker Section 6      Wounded in thigh
by a shell, 
                                                         saw Burmese and
DKBA troops

M6  41  "Saw Eh K'Lu"       M 24  Maw Ker Section 6      Fleeing to bunker,
saw his 
                                                         house burned,
heard that DKBA 
                                                         commanded by Mg.
Chit Thu

M7  41  "Naw Ghay Hser"     F 24  Maw Ker Section 7      Hiding in bunker,
then 
                                                         fleeing the fire, 
                                                         attackers asking
for Muslims

M8  42  "Pi Lah Say"        F 55  Maw Ker Section 7      Fleeing to bunker,
hurt 
                                                         herself running, 
                                                         opinions on DKBA 

M9  43  "U Than Myint"      M 47  Maw Ker Section 6      Shelling of the
camp, 
                                                         confusion of
soldiers, 
                                                         encounter with the
attackers, 
                                                         attackers asking
for Muslims, 
                                                         late arrival and
shelling 
                                                         by Thais,
subsequent Thai 
                                                         security meeting,
reasons 
                                                         for leaving Burma

M10 45  "Pu Lay Ko"         M 59  Maw Ker Section 6      Fleeing to bunker
with 
                                                         his daughters, saw
his house 
                                                         burned, tried to
save 
                                                         belongings but
pulled back 
                                                         by daughters

M11 46  "Saw Bway"          M 25  Maw Ker Section 6      Shelling and
burning of 
                                                         houses and
monastery, 
                                                         drunken and
frightened 
                                                         appearance of
soldiers

M12 47  "Saw Eh Kler"       M 23  Maw Ker Section 1      Fleeing the
explosions, 
                                                         description by
witness to 
                                                         burning, late
arrival 
                                                         of Thai Army, lack
of 
                                                         Thai security,
subsequent 
                                                         Thai security
meeting, 
                                                         shooting down of
Thai 
                                                         helicopter in 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
_______

                    Huay Kaloke Interviews


                              #H1.
NAME:    "Naw Eh Moo"    SEX: F   AGE: 24  Sgaw Karen Christian teacher
FAMILY:  Married, 3 children
ADDRESS: Huay Kaloke refugee camp          INTERVIEWED: 19/3/98

[The following personal notes on the situation in Huay Kaloke were 
written in English a week after the attack on the camp, by a human rights 
monitor who has lived there for over 10 years.  The English has been very 
slightly corrected where necessary.]

19/3/98

The SPDC Army acted very wildly toward the sleeping children in the 
refugee camp.  On the night of March 10, 1998 at 11:00 at night, the Thai 
soldiers allowed the SPDC Army to enter our Huay Kaloke refugee camp 
to kill us and burn us together with our possessions.  At 12 midnight they 
[SPDC] started to shell with heavy weapons, M79 [grenades] and 2 1/2 
inch [mortars].  The first shell hurt a teacher and a boy.  Then they
shelled 
nonstop with M79 and 2 1/2 inch.  So many children were hurt by the 
shells.  Girls and boys were wounded.  They had bad injuries.  A pregnant 
woman was shot and then burned to death in Section 2 behind camp leader 
Mary On's house.  Her daughter was hurt as well, by a shell fragment in 
her hip.  Her daughter is only 9 years old.

There were 4 members of a family who were terribly burned, and the 
youngest daughter died 3 days later.  They were in Section 4 [this family 
tried to avoid the shelling by hiding down a shallow cement well and 
pulling the lid overtop them, but they were all badly burned by the heat of

the houses burning all around them].  Another sleeping family was also 
injured [by shell fragments] - the mother was hit in her left breast.  Her
9 
year old daughter was hit in the left side of her head.  Her 7 year old son

was hit in his right shoulder and his left hand.

As for me, I have 3 children.  My eldest son is 6, my second son is 5 and 
my youngest son is 2.  At 12 midnight when I heard the sound of the 
mortars and saw the light [of the fire], I carried my youngest boy and 
pulled along my eldest.  My mother carried my second son.  I had no idea 
where to run to, so I went under our house.  My brother told us to run to 
the fields, but I didn't dare go because so many shells were falling in the

field.  Then I saw my friend, Teacher T---, and his parents pass by my 
house so I followed them.  At that time my brother was in our house trying 
to gather our clothing, food and blankets.  He was hurrying to follow us, 
but luckily while he was grabbing the bottle of my children's milk powder 
in his frightened hands, he dropped the bottle.  Just as he bent to pick up

the bottle a 2 1/2-inch shell exploded behind my house.  That shell 
wounded 6 people behind my house.  I was about 5 minutes away from my 
house by then.  My brother wasn't too close to the shell, but he fell on
his 
back.  He felt numbness in his body, and he also felt all hot.  He thought 
he'd been hurt by a piece of the shell, but when he checked his body there 
were no injuries.  When he heard the cries of the injured people he jumped 
down from the house and looked for them so he could carry them.

As for me and 2 of my children, we ran straight to the Thai village and 
stayed in the yard of the Thai monastery until dawn.  When I arrived at the

Thai village it was a quarter past 12.  I looked back at my refugee camp 
and saw many shells exploding over my camp.  At 1 a.m. on March 11th, 
my camp was burned down.  So many houses were burned.  At 1:15 a.m. I 
still hadn't seen my mother and my second son, so I was very sad.  About 
50 shells were exploding in our camp.  My mother ran to the Karen 
monastery in our camp and then came to me in the Thai village by a 
different way.  At 2 a.m. I met my mother, my second son and my brother.

Then I found out that there was one pregnant woman who was shot and 
wounded, she fell beside her house and then burned to death with her 
house.  Her name was Ma Pein.  A seven year old boy named Pa Lah Ghay 
was shot in his head and died in an NGO car on the way to the hospital.  A 
15 year old girl was burned and died later on March 14th.  There were also 
36 people who were injured:

#  Name         Sex Age Section   Remarks

1  U Gyi          M 60  2      \  married couple,
2  Daw Pyu        F 58  2      /  Pa'O nationality
3  Kyaw Swa       M 55  4      \  4 family members hid in well
4  Mu Kyu         F 40  4       | to avoid shooting, all were 
5  Shae Wah Paw   F 18  4      /  very seriously burned,  
                                  daughter Thweh Ghay Say Paw, 15,
                                  died of burns on March 14,
                                  Shae Wah Paw died weeks later
6  Naw Klih Hta   F  8  2
7  Ah Nweh        F 24  1      \  same
8  Ah Sein        M 29  1      /  family
9  Tha Sein Win   M 62  1
10 Ner Kah Mway   M 38  2
11 Ghay Hser      M 24  4
12 Saw Alexander  M 24  4
13 Paw Nay        F 58  4
14 Ma Leh         F 36  4
15 Keh Loh        M 42  4
16 Ther Nu Htoo   M  7  4
17 Aye Win        F 29  4
18 Neh Thait      M 40  1
19 Chit San Maung M 14  1          Suffered a broken thigh
20 Paw Htoo       F 39  5
21 Ah Bu          M 41  1
22 Lah May Paw    F 13  2       \  same
23 Ma Su          F 35  2       /  family
24 Ma Khin Lay    F 39  2       \
25 Shwe Lain      M 50  2        | same family
26 Mu Naw         F 54  2       /
27 Pa Lah Heh     M  9  2
28 Char Lah Bu    F 15  1
29 Naw Po         F 42  4
30 Say Wah        F 75  4
31 Bway Htoo      F 38  1       \  Same family; Naw Elizabeth 
32 Naw Elizabeth  F  9  1        | was known as a very clever student, but
hit in 
33 Lay Htoo       M  7  1       /  but hit in the head by a
                                   shell fragment and now "not normal"; 
                                   still in hospital
34 Naw December   F 40  1       \  Same
35 Eh Tee Kaw     M 17  1       /  family
36 Lah Gyi        M 40  1

[The injured listed as #3, 4, 5, and 20 were burn victims; most of the 
others were first wounded by shell fragments and bullets, then many of 
them were subsequently burned.] 

On March 11th between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. the Thai soldiers beat 6 people 
in the field near the camp:

# Name Sex Age Section Remarks

1  T---  M 48  5       Kicked
2  P---  M 50  5       Punched in the back of his neck
3  P---  M 50  5       Punched in the back of his neck, 
                       kicked in the back
4  M---  M 40  6       Slapped in the face
5  A---  F 70  6       Booted in her back
6  T---  M 40  5       Beaten on the back of his neck

The Thai soldiers didn't say anything to them, just beat them and told them

to sit in the field. 

My feeling:  Now we have to be afraid of the SPDC Army and the Thai 
Army as well.  The Thai soldiers are not kind to us, because the Thai 
Government wants to drive us back to forced labour, portering and hunger 
in Burma.  I believe we need a safer place for refugees.  We need a place 
between Mae Ramat and Tak, near Thai Karen villages [in the hills east of 
Huay Kaloke further inside Thailand; these hills are fairly sparsely 
populated by small Karen villages].  It is a big land filled with plenty of

water and bamboo.  Then we need a UN Army to provide security for us 
because we cannot trust the Thais.  I have many Thai soldier friends, and 
they've told me that they really won't protect us.  They don't want to kill

the SPDC Army.  They are not brave in battle, they are only cruel to 
refugee people.  I have been in Thailand for 14 years, and I know very well

about the Thai spirit.  They love only money.  If we can pay money to 
them then they pretend to care for us, but when they finish spending the 
money they no longer pretend to care.  Their faces and mouths show their 
hearts.
___________________________________________________________________________
                                 #H2.
NAME:    "Saw Lah Po"  SEX: M    AGE: 25      Sgaw Karen Christian
FAMILY:  Married, 1 child aged 2 1/2 months   INTERVIEWED: 15/3/98 
ADDRESS: Wangka village, Myawaddy township; now in Huay Kaloke refugee camp

["Saw Lah Po"'s house is in Section 1, right on the eastern edge of the 
camp where the main attack force entered.  This side of the camp faces 
Thailand, not Burma; the attackers were brought by truck all the way 
around the camp to the Thai side to launch their attack.]

Q:  What happened that night?
A:  It was March 10th at 12:30 [at night; actually March 11th] when they 
came into the camp.  We heard the noise of a car but we could not see 
exactly.  First I saw dogs barking.  Then the soldiers arrived on the other

bank of the stream but they didn't start to shoot yet; they were lining up 
and they were setting up their mortar.  When I saw them, we started to run 
and then they saw us and they fired their guns.  They fired guns first and 
then shells of big weapons started to land.  Then the soldiers separated 
themselves into two groups in front of my house.  There were more than 
ten soldiers in each group.  They started to burn the houses as soon as
they 
entered the camp.  I told my family, "Don't take anything, we will run!"  I

ran with my wife and my child.  My wife couldn't put her slippers on [she 
didn't have time] and neither could my mother-in-law.  I couldn't carry 
anything, not even my blankets.  They fired a lot with guns and then they 
fired big weapons.  A shell landed near the hospital just in front of us,
so 
we turned left.  We ran into the streambed and we stayed there.  We dared 
not come back so we stayed until the shooting stopped.  Then we came 
back.
 
Q:  Do you think they were DKBA?
A:  We dared not look.  We ran so we don't know, but I think the Burmese 
and the DKBA were mixed together.

Q:  Did you see Thai soldiers?
A:  This time we didn't see them, they didn't come here.  That night they 
didn't come to our side of the camp.

Q:  Did you see anyone killed or injured?
A:  In section two one pregnant woman was hit by a shell so she couldn't 
move, and then she burned to death in the fire.  Her name was Ma Pein, 
we called her Daw Pein, she lived in section two.  She was over 30 years 
old.  She had one child.  Now the child stays with his father.  She was
dead 
but her husband didn't know if she was dead or alive.  The fire burned her 
so badly he couldn't recognise her, but when he saw her sarong he knew 
that it was his wife.  In section 2, two people died - the other was a
child, 
he was wounded in the head.  He died in the hospital, so we didn't see.  
His name was Pa Lah Ghay.  I don't know exactly how old he was, maybe 
three or four years old [sic: he was 7, and he died en route to hospital].

My mother was also wounded.  She was wounded in the back by a shell.  It 
was in section 2.  I think it was not a 79 [M79 grenade] that hit her, it
was 
a shell from a mortar, a 2 1/2 inch shell.  They fired the mortar from near

the mango tree.  Now she is in the hospital but she can talk, she is not in
a 
coma.  She won't stay too long in the hospital.  She will come back and 
stay here.  My mother's name is Paw Nay.  She is in her fifties.

Q:  Where do you live now?
A:  Now I live in the field [the open field in the middle of the camp] 
because the camp leaders told us to live in the field.  At night time we 
sleep here but we are afraid.  The Thai soldiers don't stay anywhere near 
where we are staying.  We have to look out for ourselves, and if we see 
anything strange we have to get ready to run.  We dare not stay here.  

Q:  If the Thai soldiers say that you have to move to Beh Klaw or to 
Burma what will you do?
A:  If I must go to Burma I won't go, I dare not go.  I also dare not go to

Beh Klaw now, the situation there is not good.
___________________________________________________________________________

   - [END OF PART 3; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 4 THROUGH 7] -