Karen forces resume attacks on junta forces on Thailand-Myanmar border

After a pause in combat during New Year’s festivities in Myanmar, forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) assaulted and seized junta positions near the border with Thailand last week, sources within the ethnic armed group said. Members of several brigades of the KNLA—the armed wing of the political organisation Karen National Union (KNU)—launched offensives in the respective territories under their command. Brigade 7 carried out assaults in Karen (Kayin) State’s Hlaingbwe Township; Brigade 6 in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township (or Dooplaya District, according to the KNU nomenclature); and Brigade 4 near Myeik and Dawei in Myanmar’s southernmost subdivision, Tanintharyi Region. There are seven KNU/KNLA brigades, each of which exercises control over a designated portion of the territory claimed by the KNU in Myanmar, which includes parts of Mon State and Bago and Tanintharyi regions as well as Karen State. The assaults resulted in the capture of two junta bases: the Htee Hta base near the Dawei-Htee Khee road and the Maw Hpa Thu base in Hlaingbwe Township just a few miles from the Thaungyin (Moei) River and the nearby Thai border. A high-ranking KNU official told Myanmar Now that Maw Hpa Thu base, a key junta stronghold where soldiers had received orders forbidding their retreat, fell after a day of intense fighting. KNU sources confirmed that the military conducted airstrikes during the battle in an attempt to drive back the KNLA-led forces. The clashes prompted some locals to flee over the border into Mae Ramat District in Thailand’s Tak Province, where they took refuge in a village monastery, according to the Thai outlet The Reporter News. Hilltop base taken, junta commander killed Fighters in the KNLA-led alliance fatally shot a captured junta tactical operations commander after seizing the Htee Hta base where he was stationed in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region on April 19, according to a press release from the KNLA’s Brigade 4. The Brigade 4 statement said fighters under its command took over the Htee Hta base, which is set up on a hill and comprises two large camps, following an eight-day battle. According to the statement, around 100 junta troops were killed in the clashes, which also resulted in the capture of the tactical operations commander and some soldiers as prisoners of war. They shot the commander, according to the statement, after he spoke to them aggressively and tried to rise to a standing position in defiance of their orders. Brigade 4 did not disclose the number of casualties incurred by the anti-junta forces during the fight for the base. Dr. Aung Aung, deputy leader of the Force for Federal Democracy (FFD), which operates in the KNLA’s Brigade 5 territory, confirmed that his group also took part in the battle. “Our new drone operators, who had just completed their training under Brigade 4, immediately joined the forces led by Brigade 4 in the Htee Hta battle,” Dr. Aung Aung said. Padoh Saw Eh Na, the KNU’s secretary of Myeik-Dawei District in Brigade 4’s territory, explained the Htee Hta base’s strategic importance. “It was a key base outside Htee Khee, close to the Thai border. Controlling it is crucial for dominating the Htee Khee–Dawei Road,” he said. “The junta once guaranteed security to Russia for the Dawei Deep Sea Port project, but that security has now weakened with our capture of the base.” On the afternoon of April 20, a junta helicopter reportedly flew over Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province, which is adjacent to Tanintharyi Region, before re-entering Myanmar airspace and carrying out airstrikes near the Htee Hta base, according to Bangkok-based news outlet Khaosod English. New opportunities on the border According to the senior KNU official who spoke with Myanmar Now, all major junta bases and camps along the bank of the Thaungyin in Brigade 7 territory—which lies north of Kawkareik and Myawaddy, Karen State and encompasses the towns of Hlaingbwe and Hpa-an—have been destroyed The KNLA has also taken control of all junta camps near the Thailand-Myanmar border along the Thanlwin (Salween) River in Brigade 5 territory, which is north of Brigade 7 territory. According to military analysts, the KNLA’s brigades 5 and 7 are now potentially in a position to take control of the Thailand-Myanmar border, which may create opportunities for the delivery of more humanitarian aid, goods, and medicines from Thailand to KNU territory. Captain Zin Yaw, a former soldier who defected after the coup of 2021 and joined the striking Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar, observed that the KNLA had succeeded in executing a number of successful battle manoeuvres in part because the military’s attention was directed elsewhere. “The junta has been preoccupied with the response to the earthquake, mainly focusing on Sagaing Region, northern Shan State, [Ta’ang National Liberation Army]-controlled areas like Tawng Hkam [in Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan State], and areas bordering Rakhine State,” he said. “This has left them vulnerable in the Karen area. The KNU took advantage of this gap, launching attacks when they had the upper hand.” However, Captain Zin Yaw also noted that prolonged fighting in southern Myanmar often ends with anti-junta forces unable to seize junta bases, or hold those they have captured. "We have to wait and see how long they can maintain their attacks. In the south, attacks start strong and escalate quickly, but eventually, the situation changes. They’ve been forced to retreat from camps like Ah Nan Kwin and Ka Taing Ti, which were on the brink of falling. So, for now, it’s a ‘wait and see’ situation,” he said. A KNU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Myanmar Now that the KNU has adopted a policy of eliminating any junta bases in the territories they control, and that the battles going on currently are meant to enforce this policy. Other brigade territories There has been no fighting in Kyaikhto Township, which lies in territory controlled by the KNLA’s Brigade 1. However, more than 50 people traveling from Nyaunglebin Township, Bago Region to Kyaik Htee Yoe Pagoda in Mon State were detained there this month by a resistance group under the command of the publicly mandated National Unity Government. Tactical unit 27 of the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), which operates within the NUG defence ministry’s Military Region 2, is responsible for the detaining the civilians, including women and children. Five of the detainees, including pro-junta militia leader Hlaing Min and his wife Yamin, remain in custody, while the others were released on April 18, according to the PDF tactical unit’s commander Aye Min Htun. In a video statement, he said the detainees are being interrogated, and those found guilty will face legal action. Confirmed details about the battlefield situation in Kawkareik Township, most of which falls within the KNLA’s Brigade 6 territory, remain unavailable. Since April 15, the KNLA and its allies have reportedly been attacking junta outposts under Military Operations Command 12 between the towns of Kyondoe and Kawkareik. According to a high-ranking KNU official, the Myanmar military launched airstrikes during the battle, with bombs hitting monasteries and residential areas and leaving at least 15 dead, including monks, children, and pregnant women. The battle subsided on April 22 after one week, he said.

Karen forces resume attacks on junta forces on Thailand-Myanmar border

Anti-junta fighters reportedly shot a junta tactical operations commander dead after capturing him in a battle for control of a major hill base in Tanintharyi Region

Subscribe for full access

Across a border and into a war: A Karenni leader’s final journey

When going home is impossible: Myanmar nationals find solace in Singapore’s Peninsula Plaza

The Russian general behind Moscow’s decades-long military courtship of Myanmar

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

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar military, MNDAA move to strengthen positions amid rising tensions

Five killed in Myanmar junta airstrikes in retaliation for attack by PDF forces

Myanmar tin mega-mine restarts operations: think tank

H&M says Myanmar exit from garment factory follows responsible withdrawal policy