Brief update on Taw Oo district: SAC airstrikes kill three villagers and wound nine, including children, in Daw Hpah Hkoh township (February 2024) – Myanmar

This brief update describes events in Daw Hpah Hkoh (Thadaunggyi) Township, Taw Oo (Toungoo) District, in February 2024. On 21 February 2024, a State Administration Council (SAC) helicopter from Toungoo Air Base conducted an airstrike on K— village in Htee Day (Pi Tauk Kon) Village Area, Daw Hpah Hkoh (Thadaunggyi) Township. Four villagers were injured, including two children, and an 85-year-old woman was killed. One injured victim was taken to Naypyidaw city for treatment, where her leg was amputated. The SAC helicopter also conducted an airstrike on M— village in Htee Day (Pi Tauk Kon) Village Area, Daw Hpah Hkoh (Thadaunggyi) Township. In this incident, five villagers were injured and three villagers were killed, including two 8-year-old children. The airstrike also damaged houses and plantations and killed livestock. There has been no fighting or movement of the armed forces in or near the village since the first quarter of 2023. The villagers feel devastated, traumatized and aggrieved.

Air raid in K— village, Htee Day village area

At 2 p.m. on February 21, 2024, a State Administration Council (SAC)2 helicopter from Toungoo Air Base at the SAC Southern Command (Ta Pa Ka) Headquarters in Toungoo Town dropped bombs on K— Village, Section 3, in Htee Day (Pi Tauk Kon) Village Area,3 Daw Hpah Hkoh (Thadaunggyi) Township, Taw Oo (Toungoo) District. (Previously) there had been no fighting or movement of armed forces in or near the village since the first quarter of 2023. As a result of the airstrike, four villagers of K— were injured by shrapnel, and an 85-year-old woman named Daw4 L—, also from K— Village Section 3, died instantly from injuries to her head, abdomen, and chest. Daw L—‘s skull was fractured and her abdomen perforated, causing her intestines to be pushed out. A 35-year-old woman named Daw C— was injured in the leg and one leg had to be amputated. The other three injured villagers were Daw T—, a 35-year-old woman, Ma S—, a 12-year-old girl and a one-and-a-half-year-old child (name unknown). They are all of the Bamar ethnic group5 and Buddhists. These four injured villagers were taken by car to a hospital in Yay Tal Shay, Bago Division. The hospital in Yay Tal Shay did not have enough resources to treat Daw C—, who had to have her leg amputated, so she was transferred to a hospital in Naypyidaw city, which is (approximately) four hours away. (The injured villagers did not receive any assistance from any humanitarian organization to cover the cost of treatment.)

In addition, two houses of villagers named U 6 O— and U J— were hit by shrapnel. Both villagers are Buddhists and belong to the Bamar ethnic group, their age is unknown. Some domestic animals were injured and died as well: a medium-sized cow, a dog and some chickens died, three cows were injured and two dogs lost their legs. The crops were destroyed by the bomb (explosions) and shrapnel. (As the villagers explained to the KHRG researcher, the villagers feel devastated, traumatized and hurt after the airstrike.)