Myanmar military retakes battalion base from resistance, Karen fighters in Bago Region

A large force of army ground troops recaptured the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 598 base Bago Region’s Shwegyin Township on Sunday, three days after anti-junta forces seized it, resistance fighters said. The LIB 598 base, which is near the village of Za Loke Gyi some 20 miles south of Shwegyin, fell under the control of Karen National Union (KNU) and allied members of the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) last Thursday after a prolonged blockade and intense fighting. “They attacked with about 500 troops and we met them while they were advancing. We withdrew gradually after that. The enemy has retaken [LIB] 598. They are piling up old tires... they’ll probably reoccupy it,” a PDF member said. “On our side, we took what equipment was left in the base and withdrew. But we’re still deployed in the surrounding area.” On Monday, the military council issued a statement claiming the PDF—the armed wing of the publicly mandated National Unity Government—and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)—the KNU’s armed wing—had spread falsehoods about capturing the battalion base the previous Thursday. Instead, according to the junta’s statement, the army had regained control of the battalion base on May 11 after it was occupied temporarily by “terrorists,” seizing six bodies, 10 small firearms, bombs, and ammunition. Sources connected to the PDF told Myanmar Now that 15 fighters among the anti-junta forces had been killed and more than 40 wounded in the battle for the battalion base. According to a statement released by the NUG’s Southern Regional Military Command, the anti-junta forces that attacked and captured the LIB 598 base on May 8 included members of the KNLA, the PDF’s Special Operations Force (SOF), the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, and local resistance groups. Resistance forces seized 83 weapons as well as ammunition and jammers from the base, the NUG statement claimed, as well as capturing six junta personnel as prisoners of war and taking seven of their family members into custody. Additionally, some 30 armed junta personnel were killed in the clash, four surrendered and defected to the resistance, battalion commander reportedly fled the base along with around 50 other personnel, according to the NUG command, which also acknowledged that there had been casualties among the anti-junta forces but did not give exact figures. SOF commander Aung San Shar, who took part in the capture of the LIB 598 base, told Myanmar Now that it was so damaged during the battle by gunfire and junta airstrikes that it could not have been reoccupied. “The entire base is destroyed due to the intensity of the battle. We cleared everything,” he said, adding, “After the clearing operation, we deployed to the necessary areas and are maintaining territorial control.” He went on to say that members of the KNU’s Brigade 3, which claims parts of Bago Region including Shwegyin as its territory, and allied resistance forces were now pursuing the 50 junta armed personnel who had fled the base. However, according to Captain Zin Yaw, a former army officer who defected and joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement, the junta does appear to have recaptured the base. Their claim is borne out by the photos they have released as well as information from some resistance sources. “The joint forces did not have a long-term military objective to maintain control. That’s why they seized the equipment and withdrew,” Capt. Zin Yaw explained. “By the time the junta reached the base, the resistance forces were in a position to withdraw with the seized equipment and prisoners of war.” KNLA fighters have been known to destroy, clear, and withdraw from junta bases rather than occupy them for the long term. The KNU has adopted a policy to expel the military entirely from the “Kawthoolei Administrative Area”--its name for the territory over which it claims jurisdiction in Myanmar. The policy requires assaulting junta outposts whenever the opportunity arises, a senior KNU official told Myanmar Now in April.The anti-junta forces' seizure of the LIB 598 base was followed shortly by the seizure of the Laypanarde outpost on the Thaungyin (Moei) River near the Thailand-Myanmar border on the following morning, May 9. On the same day, KNLA-led forces captured the last remaining junta outpost near Htee Khee village in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region. A junta outpost in Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State near the Thailand-Myanmar border has also been under attack by the KNU's Brigade 7 since the morning of May 7, prompting nearly 300 residents to flee across the border into Thailand, according to Thai media outlets. Fighters of the KNU’s armed wing have been assaulting and clearing junta bases in the territories of KNU Brigades 3, 5, and 6. Brigades 4 and 7 have also stepped up offensive operations against junta forces since last year.

Myanmar military retakes battalion base from resistance, Karen fighters in Bago Region

Although a junta counteroffensive appears to have recaptured the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 598 headquarters in Shwegyin Township three days after anti-junta groups seized it, the anti-junta fighters claimed they were still surrounding the base

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