"WHEN MORE than 70 troops from the Tatmadaw’s Infantry Battalion 68 deployed in Kone Sar village, about 13 kilometres northeast of Lashio town in northern Shan State on August 17, the residents were fearful. Their nerves had been on edge since the previous day, when Tatmadaw helicopter gunships had launched attacks on suspected targets in nearby farmland and jungle-clad hills. The villagers had sought refuge in a small monastery at one end of Kone Sar. When the newly arriving troops moved into the monastery compound, set up two mortars and fired two rounds into the village, residents knew they needed to take cover further away. They made the decision to flee, leaving behind just one person from each household. Starting from the morning of August 18, scores of Kone Sar villagers fled on foot to the monastery at Mong Tin village, a few kilometres away. Among the departing villagers later that night were Sai Lon Aye, 42, and Sai Thein Kyi, 56. They were discussing what to carry and how long they might be away when they heard mortar fire and began running for cover. Thein Kyi was the faster runner. When he looked back, he saw Lon Aye’s body sprawled on the road; shrapnel from a mortar had struck the back of his head, killing him instantly..."