A/HRC/39/CRP.2
committed extrajudicial killings, torture and rape among other violations. A number of
villages were burned and thousands were displaced as a consequence. 658
310. Clashes began in June 2017 but fighting intensified in November 2017, reaching a
peak in January 2018. On 22 November 2017, the KIA set up a base in a church in De Kaw
village in Tanai, and on the same day airstrikes were conducted by the Tatmadaw, which did
not appear to target the KIA base. An aerial bomb exploded next to a civilian’s house, killing
a young child and a man. The next day, Tatmadaw soldiers conducted an operation in the
village, as apparent retribution for battlefield casualties, which saw the arrest and detention
of some villagers, and the burning and destruction of the village. It caused villagers to flee
and be displaced.659 The detained villagers were divided into small groups, beaten and
tortured while questioned about KIA membership. 660 One of the victims gave the following
account:
The Tatmadaw tied us up with ropes and pointed their guns at our heads. They
accused us of being with the KIA and requested proof that we were not. It was hard
for us to give them the answers they wanted. One of the soldiers told me that they had
information that I was involved with the KIA and provided them with assistance, which
I denied. The soldier shouted at me, calling me “dog beggar”, which means “person
of very low value” in Myanmar. I was on my knees. The soldier standing in front of
me was asking questions while the one behind beat me. I was beaten in the back, and
hit on the head with the butt of a gun. All villagers detained were on their knees. We
were terrified.661
311. Throughout this period, a number of villages in Tanai were subject to artillery and
airstrikes.662 For example, Nam Kawn village, 20 kilometres from Tanai town, was targeted
by aerial bombing and heavy artillery mortar shelling from 22 to 27 January 2018, and with
heaving fighting from 25 to 27 January.663 The village is located in the Zeephury Kone area,
where both amber and gold are mined,664 and which is controlled by the KIA. 665 Reliable
reports indicate that several aerial bombs were dropped on the village on 26 January 2018,
destroying houses666 and causing two civilian deaths and four injuries, including three
women.667 The nearest KIA posts were located several miles away, and as such there was no
apparent military target.668 One of the injured victims, explained how her house was
completely destroyed following an airstrike, and both she and her sister were injured. She
spent a month in hospital.669Another witness stated that Tatmadaw soldiers, in the course of
their military operations that day, deliberately shot at or otherwise targeted the civilian
population:
People fled from the bombings, and as they were fleeing, the military was shooting at
them. People fled the area, some to the IDP camps. I think the military operation was
designed to make villagers flee the town.670
312. As the Tatmadaw progressed into KIA controlled territory, strategic KIA posts were
targeted. On 27 January 2018, a group of Tatmadaw soldiers supported by Lisu militia killed
five, possibly six, men at a KIA tax post at Aung Ja village. Shortly after, approximately 200
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
K-069.1.
DI-066, PI-086, PI-088.
DI-066, PI-086, PI-088.
DI-066.
DI-061, PI-046, PI-063.
K-142; T. Miles, “U.N. concerned about heavy fighting in Myanmar's Kachin state” (Reuters, 6
February 2018).
DI-061.
PI-045, PI-049, V-018.
PI-045.
DI-061, DI-062, PI-043, PI-049, PI-053.
DI-061.
DI-062.
PI-043.
79