According to the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) seven people were killed and four injured when the Myanmar military fired heavy artillery at Klaw Day Village, Bu Tho Township in Karen State’s Mu Traw District, on 5th March.

Among those killed were three children, all girls, aged two, five and 14. A three-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were among those injured. A pregnant woman was also killed.

KPSN said that the Burmese military knew the location of the village and deliberately targeted it, even though it was a civilian village. The attack came at 7.20pm, a time when the Burmese military knew people were likely to be in their homes. Such an attack is a war crime.

The Myanmar military has been using long-range heavy artillery based in Papun to attack civilians in Mu Traw.

Because the Myanmar military uses internationally bought weapons, paid for in part by international companies doing business with the military, the KPSN is calling for increased pressure on countries involved in supplying arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, including Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, India and Singapore.

The KPSN calls for targeted economic sanctions to be imposed at a much faster rate to cut military revenue because companies in business with the Myanmar military are complicit in the international crimes being committed against the Myanmar people.

The KPSN has also called for sanctions on the supply of aviation fuel to Myanmar because the majority of displaced people in Karen State are displaced by airstrikes or the threat of airstrikes, which has created a humanitarian crisis. The military are using drones to identify targets such as villages and IDP camps, which they later attack using airstrikes or heavy artillery.