14 Myanmar junta troops killed, 17 captured, in Karen State’s Hpapun Township

A coalition of anti-regime forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) intercepted a junta column in Karen State’s Hpapun Township on Sunday, killing 14 soldiers and capturing 17. The regime troops were ambushed while retreating from their camp near Khaw Poke, a village on the Thai-Myanmar border, after it was captured on October 31, resistance sources said. The captured soldiers included three captains serving as company commanders, according to Lin Lin, the information officer for the Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA), one of the groups involved in the fighting. Two resistance fighters were killed in the week-long battle to capture the Khaw Poke camp, he added. In addition to troops from the BPLA and the KNLA’s Brigade 5, fighters from the People’s Defence Force and another group operating under the command of the National Unity Government, the Force for Federal Democracy, also took part in the battle. In a video posted online, members of the BPLA can be seen providing medical assistance to injured junta troops and telling them that as prisoners of war, they would not be killed. Resistance forces said they also captured six regime soldiers when they overran the Khaw Poke camp. The junta troops who escaped when the camp fell were on their way to a tactical base, sources told Myanmar Now. The regime still holds 11 positions in Hpapun Township, all of which have been blockaded by resistance forces, they added. The BPLA was established in April 2021, months after the military seized power in a coup. The group has also been fighting in northern Shan State as part of Operation 1027, a major anti-junta offensive launched in October of last year.Maung Saungkha, the group’s leader, announced late last month that its troops would soon be redeployed to central Myanmar.

14 Myanmar junta troops killed, 17 captured, in Karen State’s Hpapun Township

The soldiers were ambushed on Sunday as they fled their camp on the Thai-Myanmar border after its was captured by resistance forces last week

Subscribe for full access

Explainer: Who are the companies and cronies backing Myanmar junta leader’s Thailand visit?

From palace stages to exile: A Myanmar dancer who chose conscience over ceremony

Her parents gone, a Myanmar student prays for the return of a father lost in conflict

Rakhine State floods put AA administration to its biggest test yet

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar junta airstrike kills eight family members in southern Rakhine State

Regime arrests 19 CSO members on suspicion of supporting education in resistance areas

Fighting erupts between junta and KIA troops near Mongmit in northern Shan

Myanmar regime continues airstrikes amid flooding in Sagaing