Resistance forces say they withdrew from two villages east of the Salween River in Karenni (Kayah) State over the weekend following a series of air and ground assaults by Myanmar’s military.
The villages, Kyauk Pe Nyo and Wan Aung, were both under the control of anti-regime groups based in Karenni State’s Mese Township, which borders Thailand to the east.
The groups said that four junta columns of around 100 soldiers each began attacking the villages on July 19. As the fighting intensified, with the military carrying out multiple airstrikes over the next three days, the resistance forces said they had no choice but to pull out on Saturday.
“Our revolutionary forces had to abandon the villages, but it could be just temporary,” said a People’s Defence Force (PDF) information officer, without elaborating on whether there was any plan to attempt to retake the villages.
He added that a number of allied anti-junta groups took part in the fighting, including PDFs based in Karenni State’s Hpasawng and Bawlakhe townships, the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), the Karenni Revolution Union, and the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force.
Kyauk Pe Nyo is several hours’ drive west of Mese, a town now completely under the control of the resistance. However, it is also near a camp operated by KNPLF Battalion 1005, which served as a Border Guard Force unit under the command of Myanmar’s military until it switched sides late last month.
On June 13, resistance forces carried out a series of coordinated attacks on a police station and three junta outposts in Mese Township. Later in the month, two more outposts were overrun, bringing most of the township under the effective control of local resistance groups.
“Now they’re trying to take the area back and regain control of the bases they lost,” said an information officer for the Hpasawng PDF.
According to the information officer, junta troops have torched most of the houses in Kyauk Pe Nyo and at least 20 in Wan Aung since they took over the villages on Saturday.
He added that he also saw the military take a local man hostage in Wan Aung.
“They brought him along with his hands tied behind his back and forced him to act as their guide. I heard that he was later shot during the fighting,” said the information officer.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently confirm if there were any other civilian casualties. The number of dead or injured resistance and regime troops was also unavailable at the time of reporting.
