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This Short Update describes events occurring in Ler Doh Soe Township, Mergui-Tavoy District. On January 10th 2026, between 1 and 2 pm, a fighter jet of the Burma Army conducted an air strike, dropping two bombs, and fired bullets from an Oerlikon on Aa--- village, K’Maw Thway village tract, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring nine villagers, including seven women, a man, and a two-year-old girl. In addition, the air strike damaged a clinic, villagers’ plantation fields, and buildings located in a KNU office compound. The injured villagers received treatment from Karen Department of Health Welfare (KDHW) health care workers at the office compound. Following the air strike, villagers fled from Aa--- village.[1]
Air strike in Ler Doh Soe Township:
On January 10th 2026, in the afternoon between 1 and 2 pm, an SAC [Burma Army[2]] aircraft from Bleik (Myeik) Town, Ler Muh Lah Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, conducted an air strike on Aa--- (also known as Ab---) village, K’Maw Thway village tract[3], Ler Doh Soe Township, Mergui-Tavoy District. The aircraft came from the eastern side [of Aa--- village], then conducted an air strike and flew away to the western side [of the village]. The colour of the aircraft, a fighter jet, was sky-blue. The aircraft dropped two 250-pound bombs and fired [bullets] from an Oerlikon [mounted cannon from an aircraft] [at the same time.]
The bombs landed inside the compound of a Karen National Union (KNU)[4]’s township office in Aa--- village. [Villagers who were waiting for their personal legal cases to proceed were staying in the KNU office compound]. The two bombs landed only four to five arm spans [7 to 9 metres] away from each other. The air strike killed a girl and injured [nine others:] seven women, a man, and a girl.
The name of the girl who was killed was Naw[5] A---. She sustained an injury to her right shoulder and then died, inside [a house in] the KNU office compound. She was two years old. [The distance between the explosion location and the building, in the compound, was three arm spans (5 metres) away. Naw A--- and her mother were being supported by the Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO)[6] to process a legal case at the KNU office. Specific details about the legal case have been censored for the villagers’ security.]
The name of the other girl, who sustained an injury to her temple, is B---. She was also in the KNU township office compound at the time of the incident. She is also two years old. She is the daughter of a KWO member from Ler Doh Soe Township.
The other seven women and the man who sustained injuries were civil servants under the SAC [Burma Army] military regime. They participated in the 2025 [junta’s] election[7] [during phase 1, on 28th December 2025] at Ab--- Town, Ler Doh Soe Township. They supported the election [unspecified actions], and soldiers from Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[8] Battalion #10 arrested them.[9] [They were detained in small houses at the KNU township office compound and could not leave the village from the end of December 2025 until January 2026.]
So, when the air strike happened, [one of the bombs landed only four to five arm spans (7 to 9 metres) away from the buildings,] they were all injured. They received treatment [from Karen Department of Health Welfare (KDHW)[10] healthcare workers] and a [local KNU township authority] leader released them, because no one felt [the village was] safe as a result of the air strike.
The [eight civil servants detained] who sustained injuries are listed below:
- Ma[11]C--- (37 years old),
- Ma D--- (50 years old),
- Ma E--- (39 years old),
- Ma F--- (52 years old),
- Ma G--- (45 years old),
- Ma H--- (27 years old),
- Ma I--- (46 years old), and
- Ko[12] J--- (33 years old).
[Further specific details of the injuries of the victims are unknown to the KHRG researcher.]
Due to the air strike, a clinic administered by the KDHW [in Aa--- village], and villagers’ plantation fields were [also] damaged. Similarly, following the air strike incident, fear grew [among villagers], thus students and teachers fled to a safer place to continue their studies. In some other villages, students were rushed to do their exams earlier than the school’s initial plan. Some villagers were too afraid to live in the [Aa---] village; thus, they moved to their other plantation fields, which are located further away from the village.