“Crashing Down on Us” 45 I lifted my son’s dead body with my other son and my wife’s brother. We loaded the body onto the motorcycle. … People on the route couldn’t look at us because they were crying; the son had died, and the father was carrying his body.56 Speaking of Khun San Hlaing’s injuries, he continued: We moved the body inside the house, then cleaned it and changed his clothes. There was a lot of bleeding. … It’s a lot, he even bled on the road [back to the house]. A lot of blood. When we were cleaning the body, we noticed the back of his head was open [because of the injury]. … It was not an open injury but rather a hole-like injury with bleeding. One ear was severed. The knee was broken. One hand was also broken, but not cut off. After we had cleansed his dead body, we looked at him and realized that my kid had done nothing wrong but had endured such suffering.57 Khun San Hlaing and the three other children’s funerals took place the next day on February 6, 2024, in the early morning.58 Airstrike on Loi Nan Pha School, Demoso Township, Karenni State February 5, 2024, 10:15 a.m. On the same day as the attack on Daw Si Ei School—February 5, 2024—the junta struck another school in the neighboring village of Loi Nan Pha, Demoso Township, Karenni State.59 Fortify Rights spoke with three people from Loi Nan Pha village who survived the airstrike. A 26-year-old mother of two whose husband was killed told Fortify Rights: “Duuu” was the sound we heard [after the first jet flew overhead]. I told my husband to stop the [milling] machine [we were using at the time]. … We went into the bunker. ... Once more, another fighter jet flew overhead. [M]y husband went to look at the jet. … He was unable to get back into the bunker in time. … He died on the spot.60 She added: “I want justice for my husband. The military [junta] is killing innocent civilians … I was trying to save my husband. I feel so sad for my children and frustrated with the military’s actions.”61 Another resident of Loi Nan Pha village, 30, told Fortify Rights about how she and her one-year-old child narrowly escaped the airstrike: We were sitting outside the house at the time. When we saw the jet flying … I fled to the bunker with my child. Following that, the plane dropped the bomb. … One bomb hit the [school] kitchen [pointing to the spot during the interview], and I was hugging my kid and crying in the 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 59 Furthermore, Fortify Rights interviewed a junta air force pilot who was a prisoner-of-war (POW) detained by Karenni armed resistance forces in February 2024 in Karenni State. The 43-year-old pilot and POW, who was a Major, last serving at Taungoo Air Force Base, was detained on November 19, 2023, when his Hongdu JL-8 fighter jet crashed in Karenni State. He told Fortify Rights about how junta airforce had targeted civilian areas, including schools since the 2021 coup: “So, when we got ordered to target a school building, we were told there was only the ‘enemy’ and no children were in the school, and that the enemy was taking refuge there. Even if it maybe a civilian building, we were told there was no civilians present, and I believed that there were only enemies. Mostly, they [his commanders] gave me the targets on a map with marks for where the enemy troops were and where our troops were. Some were temples and some were schools, but we were told there were no civilians around, only that the enemy had taken over the place and that they were now attacking our troops.” Fortify Rights interview with A.Z., undisclosed location, Karenni State, Myanmar, February 27, 2024. See also, “Captured Pilot Admits Myanmar Military is Targeting Schools, Hospitals and Camps,” The Irrawaddy, December 20, 2024, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/captured-pilot-admits-myanmar-militaryis-targeting-schools-hospitals-and-camps.html. 60 Fortify Rights interview with C.D., Demoso Township, Karenni State, Myanmar, February 24, 2024. 61 Ibid.