Clashes break out between Myanmar junta and Karenni fighters in southern Shan State

Fierce fighting between army troops and Karenni resistance groups has continued for three days this week on the boundary between Pinlaung and Pekhon townships in southern Shan State, resistance sources said. Tar Eh Soe, a spokesperson for the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), told Myanmar Now on Monday that the first clashes broke out near Hsawng Pyaung village some 13 miles southeast of Pinlaung and north of Namneng (Nanneint) village, where junta soldiers massacred 22 civilians in March of last year. “The military council’s forces had already reached the environs of Hsawng Pyaung village. Our resistance forces are blocking them. Fighting has already taken place there,” Tar Eh Soe said. He added that 10 junta soldiers were killed in the clashes. The KNDF also claims to have captured some small arms from the junta forces. Myanmar Now has not been able to verify the number of casualties independently. The effort by Shan State-based Karenni resistance forces and allied groups to block the progress of the junta column is the primary cause of the recent fighting. The column, consisting of some 500 army troops joined by Pa-O militias allied with the junta, initially advanced into the area from the army base in Pinlaung. According to reports posted on the “Voice Of Pin Laung” Facebook page, which publishes news from Pinlaung Township, hundreds of civilians are trapped near the Hsawng Pyaung battlefield. The posts also said a heavy artillery shell had killed one child from the township’s Lenhkan village two miles west of the Moebye Reservoir. Myanmar Now has not been able to independently verify the reported fatality or details about the wellbeing of the trapped civilians. The KNDF’s information department claimed that troops in the junta column and their Pa-O militia allies were advancing towards Pekhon, a large town some some 30 miles southeast of Pinlaung, to provide support to junta units stationed there. Pekhon is the location of the army’s Military Operations Command 7 headquarters, as well as two light infantry battalion bases, which are currently under siege by Karenni resistance forces. The junta column’s arrival in Pekhon would likely enable the military to open a path for the besieged junta troops to withdraw or enable the military to retake and hold the town with reinforced defences. According to the KNDF, the junta has also sent a column of troops based in Hsihseng, a town northwest of Pekhon and east of the Moebye Reservoir. The Hsihseng-based troops are currently stationed and operating in Loikaw, the capital of Karenni (Kayah) State, less than 40 miles southeast of Pekhon. The KNDF has said that skirmishes between army and Karenni resistance forces are also occurring daily in and near Loikaw, which is on Karenni State’s border with southern Shan State.

Clashes break out between Myanmar junta and Karenni fighters in southern Shan State

Karenni resistance forces are fighting to block a column of 500 junta troops and their militia allies from reaching Pekhon and breaking a resistance siege on the town’s army bases

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