Hundreds of locals trapped as fighting between Karen forces and military continues in Myawaddy Township

Around 200 civilians in the village of Thingan Nyi Naung, in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township, remained trapped on Monday as fighting between the junta and forces under the Karen National Union (KNU) intensified. Columns under Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army—the armed wing of the KNU—began attacking military camps in Thingan Nyi Naung on March 7. The village is located along the Myawaddy-Kawkareik section of the Asia Highway, a significant trade route to the Thai border. Three Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) are based there: 355, 356, and 357. By Monday, resistance forces had reportedly captured two of the three LIB posts, as well as a junta police station, and continued to strike the base of the third, alongside a tactical camp. A local man assisting with efforts to rescue the villagers of Thingan Nyi Naung said that in recent days, around 150 people had been transported by car to temporary displaced persons’ camps in Myawaddy town,12 miles to the east. The camps, set up in a high school and monasteries and local homes, are housing more than 3,000 people in total from the surrounding area. Around 10 civilians had already been killed in the ongoing clashes, the local volunteer added. “I have heard that nearly 200 people remain in the village. They can't leave because there's fighting going on,” he explained. “When it sounded like the battle had stopped for a while, we rushed to rescue them, but there wasn't much assistance available. There were only one or two people helping—it wasn’t effective.” On March 8, the junta air force bombed the area, killing two people and injuring eight more who were staying in a care facility serving the elderly in neighbouring Ywar Thit village. That same day, four men fleeing Thingan Nyi Naung were hit by shrapnel from another bomb dropped in an airstrike; two died, according to displaced persons from the village. The Thingan Nyi Naung evacuation volunteer noted that Saw Mote Thon, the commander of the Karen Border Guard Force—an armed group typically allied with the military—had been “leading” the rescue efforts, but the junta administration of the area “had not taken any action.” “There is a high demand for help. All of the people fled hastily, and their primary need is for food and shelter,” he told Myanmar Now. The military council’s economic minister and spokesperson for the state administration Saw Khin Maung Myint said that Myawaddy’s district administrator would make sure the needs of the displaced were met. “At the moment, the government officials are unable to reach Myawaddy,” he said, referring to the junta. “So we instructed the district administrator who is currently in Myawaddy to provide food, water and shelter to the internally displaced persons.” The regime is notorious for failing to distribute assistance to those in need, notably in Karen State, where established civil society networks have repeatedly condemned aid operations carried out under the oversight of the junta, which is responsible for their displacement. According to figures compiled by the KNU, more than 760,000 displaced persons have sought refuge from the military in the organisation’s seven districts in southeastern Myanmar.

Hundreds of locals trapped as fighting between Karen forces and military continues in Myawaddy Township

Thousands have already fled the surrounding area, seeking refuge in Myawaddy town, where the junta administration has reportedly ‘not taken any action’ in meeting humanitarian needs

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