Karen Villagers Flee as Burma Army Escalates Attacks

By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, February 11, 2010

Burmese government troops have stepped up their attacks on Karen civilians, burning down dozens of houses and a clinic and forcing schools to close and around 2,000 Karen villagers to flee into the jungle, according to Karen relief groups.

The troops burnt down more than 70 houses in several villages in Kyaukkyi Township in Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division, as well as one mobile clinic, said the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).

Eleven schools—four nursery schools, four primary schools and three middle schools—were forced to close and children are hiding in the jungle due to the military activities, said the relief group.

Saw Steve, a CIDKP team leader, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “The villagers cannot return home as long as the government troops are active in the area.”

Troops from Light Infantry Battalions 362 and 367 and Tactical Operation Command 3, under control of Military Operation Command 10, are still patrolling in the affected areas, he added.

The troops separately entered six villages from Feb. 3 -7, burning down 46 houses in the Toe Hta area and 28 houses in the Ka Di Mu Der area, according to the CIDKP. On Feb. 5, a villager, Saw Law Ray Htoo, was shot on the Salween River and later died at a hospital in the Mae La Oo refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border.

The attacks are the latest in a series of raids targeting civilians in the region. In January, government army troops raided ten villages in Nyaunglebin District, killing four villagers and forcing about 2,000 into hiding in the jungle, according to Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.

“These attacks are further evidence of the urgent need for the United Nations to take effective action to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, perpetrated by the regime with impunity,” said Aung Din in a press release on Wednesday.

He said that mobile health clinics are always targeted by the Burmese government troops because they provide life-saving services to Karen and other ethnic minority villagers.

“This is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the principal of medical neutrality, further evidence of the regime's crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Aung Din.