KNLA abandons base following junta airstrikes, vows reclaim site through guerrilla warfare

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) was forced to withdraw from the Thay Baw Boe base in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township this week after a series of aerial attacks by the Myanmar army. 

In May, Karen forces seized the post from the military, located near the Thaung Yin River along the Thai-Myanmar border in southern Myawaddy’s Waw Lay region, reportedly killing five soldiers, including the base’s deputy commander; six more troops were captured alive. There were said to have been at least three casualties on the KNLA’s side. 

The junta’s recent attempt to regain control of the base began on Sunday and involved several airstrikes and the firing of multiple rounds of heavy artillery, according to Lt-Col Saw Yan Naing, commander of the KNLA’s 27th Battalion. 

“We didn’t retreat because we were losing, like rumours have suggested. We still have our men around that base and we can still get it back under our control using guerrilla tactics,” he told Myanmar Now. 

The Cobra Column, an anti-junta guerrilla force under the command of the KNLA’s 27th Battalion, operates around Thay Baw Boe, along the road connecting Waw Lay to Myawaddy town.

After losing the base in question to the allied resistance forces six months ago, the military tried to reclaim Thay Baw Boe in early July, reportedly bringing in troops from Light Infantry Division 44 in Kyaikhto, Mon State, and the Military Operations Command No. 13 in Tanintharyi Region.

The KNLA’s Lt-Col Saw Yan Naing told Myanmar Now that junta soldiers had been recently deployed in several locations along the Myawaddy-Waw Lay road and that the military council had been attempting to install its administrative mechanism in the towns of Waw Lay and Su Ka Li. 

The Myanmar army is expected to send more reinforcements to the area, another KNLA officer said. 

More than 2,000 residents from the Thay Baw Boe area fled their homes due the junta’s recent heavy artillery fire, seeking refuge along the shores of the Thaung Yin River. 

A local administrator said that a military tactical officer had urged the displaced persons to return to the village, insisting that it was safe to do so. Junta propaganda outlets also encouraged Thay Baw Boe locals to go back to their homes, reporting that its forces had regained control of the Waw Lay area. 

Thay Baw Boe had previously been under the control of the KNLA until it was seized by the Myanmar military in the 1990s.