5-year-old girl, Naw Paw Bo (top) and Naw La Pwey a 37-year-old woman (middle), both shot and killed by the Burma Army Naw Pah Lah is a Ko Lu villager who had traveled to Ler Taw Lu to visit her parents. On 22 March 2010 she was returning home with her 5-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son. As she neared Kaw Hta village, soldiers from Burma Army LIB 369 attacked. Her 5-year-old daughter, Naw Paw Bo, was shot in the head and Naw Pah Lah was shot in the back as she carried her 5-month-old boy; the baby was hit in the thigh. She said, “I tried to hold my daughter’s hand and pull her but she was already dead so I left her on the trail. First, I thought I will run quickly and warn the Kaw Hta villagers, but because I was hit I could not make it. When I ran, two of the Burma Army soldiers came to me and said ‘run run’ in Karen language, but I couldn’t so I heard more gun shots in the village.”
One other woman was killed in the attack, Naw La Pwey, shot in the back by Burma Army soldiers.
The 5-month-old child did not die immediately, but two and a half hours after the 4:30 p.m. attack. Naw Paw Bo, the 5-year-old girl, died immediately from a shot to the head and her mother was forced to leave her on the trail as she ran for her life and to save her son. Naw Paw Bo’s body was later found where the Burma Army had thrown her into the bushes and partially covered her blood left on the trail with dry leaves.
The Burma Army set fire to all 11 houses in the village, completely destroying 6.
