A 103-year-old Kachin women from Mahtek Village was shot and killed on 21 March along with her son by army troops operating in Kachin State's Mansi Township according to a statement issued by the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a Christian humanitarian organization that is well known for operating in difficult to reach places in Burma's conflict areas.
According to FBR the troops who killed 52-year-old Dau Ma La and his elderly mother Da Shi Hka were from Light Infantry Battalions 317 and 415 of the 88th Division. They were engaged in operations against Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) forces in and around Mahtek Village, which is controlled by the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) 27th Battalion.
The bodies of the two victims were found near their village where they had taken refuge earlier on in the day when the Burma army came to the area. According to FBR after Da Shi Hka and her son were shot and killed, “the soldiers then looted over two million Kyats from the son and mother before leaving”, FBR said.
Army troops operating in Kachin and Shan states are alleged to have regularly carried out summary executions of civilians on numerous occasions since a ceasefire between the KIO and the central government ended in June 2011, according to rights groups like Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Though FBR began by focusing on Karen areas along the Thai Burma border they later also started delivering medical and other humanitarian assistance to people in Kachin State shortly after the Kachin conflict resumed in 2011. FBR describes itself as a group that provides “medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks."
