KNU-led forces launch new offensive near Thai-Myanmar border

Subscribe to the Myanmar Now daily newsletter. It's free. Sign up > The Karen National Union (KNU) and its allies are attempting to take control of a key army camp in Karen (Kayin) State’s Myawaddy Township as part of a new offensive, according to sources close to the group. The KNU’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), began attacking the Sweitawkone camp, located about a mile south of the town of Lay Kay Kaw, along with allied forces in the last week of August, the sources said. The hilltop camp is the only military position in the KNLA’s Brigade 6 territory still under junta control. Capturing it would give the anti-regime forces full control of the area between Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass, some 150 miles to the south. “This is the only one left in Brigade 6 territory. If it can be captured, there will be no more obstacles on the road from Myawaddy to Three Pagodas Pass. No need to avoid anything,” a KNU source told Myanmar Now. According to another source, the camp has been under siege for the past six months, leaving the 150 junta troops currently stationed there with no means of support. “There’s no road the military can use to send in reinforcements. We’re using drones to drop bombs on them every day. All they can do is shoot at the drones or use snipers,” the source said. The Sweitawkone camp is used by the military to shell the area around Lay Kay Kaw, a town that was at the centre of major clashes between the KNLA and the regime for several months after fighting erupted there in December 2021. “They’ve been shelling for about two weeks now. Both sides are firing—we snipe from our side, and they fire heavy artillery from their side. There have been casualties,” the KNU source said. Meanwhile, another junta camp located near Ahnankwin, a village about 40 miles northwest of Three Pagodas Pass, near the border with Mon State, has also been facing ongoing attacks since July, the source said. “The Ahnankwin camp has been under attack for a long time, but it still hasn't been captured yet. It is also a major camp. It’s central and strategic. There are intermittent battles in that area,” he said. Ahnankwin is located on the road from Three Pagodas Pass to Thanbyuzayat in Mon State. The famous Death Railway, built when Myanmar was under Japanese rule during the Second World War, passed through the village. In early April, the KNLA captured the junta’s Thin Gan Nyi Naung tactical camp between the towns of Kawkareik and Myawaddy, enabling it to launch attacks on troops stationed near Myawaddy to guard the major trade hub on the border with Thailand. Although the anti-regime forces succeeded in taking control of Myawaddy by the middle of the month, they withdrew just over a week later as a junta column that included armoured vehicles approached from the west. The Aung Zeya column, as this force was called, spent the next three months trying to cross the Dawna mountain range—normally a day’s journey—from Kawkareik before retreating on July 26 after taking on heavy casualties. Since then, the KNLA and its allies say they have been shifting from a defensive to an offensive posture, as they turn their attention to eliminating any junta camps still operating in Brigade 6 territory.

KNU-led forces launch new offensive near Thai-Myanmar border

The group and its allies are attempting to capture a key junta base in a bid to take full control of territory south of the border town of Myawaddy

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