Battle for Myawaddy Township intensifies as KNLA, allies attack battalion base

An alliance of forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has been carrying out a continuous assault since Tuesday on the army’s last base outside Myawaddy, a vital hub for trade on the Thailand-Myanmar border, according to local and resistance sources. The KNLA and its allies have already taken control of some sections of the army’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 275 base as of Wednesday, according to a source close to anti-junta fighters participating in the operation. Since Tuesday afternoon, following a two-day pause in fighting, the military has been carrying out air and artillery strikes in response to the anti-junta forces’ attacks, according to a resident of Myawaddy Township. “Fighting began yesterday afternoon at around 1pm,” the resident said. “Military jets also dropped bombs at around 6pm yesterday.” Other local sources confirmed that junta fighter planes had carried out multiple airstrikes since Tuesday evening targeting resistance forces on the outskirts of Myawaddy. Video footage posted on social media showed black smoke billowing over burning houses and buildings near Sein Lei Myaing Highway Terminal and Myay Ni Kone village. No civilian casualties have been reported. Karen media outlets reported that a junta army convoy—which includes armoured vehicles—is en route to Myawaddy from the Karen State administrative capital of Hpa-an, carrying reinforcements, supplies, and weapons. Captain Lin Htet Aung, a Myanmar army officer who defected to the anti-junta resistance, told Myanmar Now that fighting in Myawaddy is likely to continue escalating as the military deploys more ground reinforcements and air support to prevent anti-regime forces from taking control. The KNLA, the armed wing of the ethnic organisation Karen National Union, has been engaged in an offensive against the military in Kawkareik and Myawaddy townships for more than a month, capturing junta bases in the village of Thin Gan Nyi Naung and on the Kawkareik-Myawaddy road, a vital route for border trade. More than 477 junta troops, including 67 officers, surrendered to the KNLA and their allies at the Thin Gan Nyi Naung base last week. Although banks, stores, and markets closed in Myawaddy on Wednesday, according to local sources, freight trucks were still using the two bridges connecting Myawaddy to Mae Sot, the town located across the border in Thailand’s Tak Province. However, the Thai government has tightened security at the Mae Sot border gates and elsewhere along the Thailand-Myanmar border due to the escalation of hostilities. While some Myawaddy residents are fleeing across the border as the fighting approaches, some are unable to afford travel to or accommodation in Thailand, and some have chosen to stay willingly. “I saw around 400 people on the Myawaddy side waiting at the Thailand-Myanmar border crossing to enter Mae Sot this morning,” a local resident said. “We don’t want to leave our home and belongings behind,” he added. “Above all, I don't want to witness our town suffer the same fate as Kawkareik.” The military recently carried out shelling, airstrikes, and arson attacks on civilian targets in Kawkareik Township after anti-junta forces including the KNLA captured a police station near the Mon State border. Social welfare groups in Myawaddy told Myanmar Now that at least 5,000 people displaced by earlier fighting in Myawaddy Township’s outlying villages are sheltering in eight monasteries in and near the town. “More and more displaced people are moving into the town. They’re in need of food and medical assistance,” a social welfare volunteer said.

Battle for Myawaddy Township intensifies as KNLA, allies attack battalion base

After a two-day pause in fighting, the junta air force began carrying out airstrikes on resistance targets in the outskirts of Myawaddy again on Tuesday

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