Resistance fighters seize military’s last base in Shadaw Township, Karenni State

The Karenni Army claims to have captured the last remaining junta outpost in Shadaw Township, Karenni State on Monday, a continuation of the Operation 1111 offensive launched three months ago. The KA’s resistance fighters overran the army encampment, located on high ground within the town of Shadaw, said a spokesperson for the armed organisation, which operates as the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). “At least 60 junta soldiers including a colonel were killed in the fighting, and more than 20 were taken prisoner. A dozen soldiers fled the camp, evading capture,” the Karenni Army’s Col. Phone Naing told Myanmar Now. He added that the hilltop camp was the last position held by at least 100 junta troops or police in the town, and that the resistance fighters had seized a large cache of weapons and ammunition from the captured base. Myanmar Now has yet to verify these claims independently. The town of Shadaw is located west of the Thanlwin (Salween) River, which runs north to south through Shadaw Township. The township is in the same district as the Karenni State capital, Loikaw, and shares borders with southern Shan State and Thailand. Shadaw Township is now the second township in the state, after Mese, to fall under the full control of the Karenni resistance forces, the KA’s Col. Phone Naing noted. In another recent victory in the state, the KA and allied resistance forces captured another junta base near Ywar Thit village in Bawlakhe Township last Thursday, seizing small arms, artillery, and ammunition after the battle. When fighting broke out in Shadaw Township in early January, fighter jets carried out airstrikes on residential areas, causing severe damage to at least 40 houses, according to the local news outlet Kantarawaddy Times. In the first week of February, the military council sent reinforcements to Shadaw Township, according to local sources, but Karenni resistance forces managed to intercept three helicopters carrying more than 60 junta troops from the Light Infantry Battalion 249 base in southern Shan State. Junta reinforcement troops in Shadaw Township killed seven displaced civilians by gunshot, including three children and a pregnant woman, on February 5, according to the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC) and local rights groups. The IEC, chaired by the head of the KNPP Ku Oo Reh, directs administrative affairs in Karenni State and has publicly presented itself as a body prepared to govern in Karenni State once the resistance succeeds in defeating the military regime’s forces. Soon after the launch of the anti-junta Operation 1027 offensive by the Brotherhood Alliance in northern Shan State, Karenni resistance forces including the KA and the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force initiated their own anti-regime offensive, dubbed Operation 1111, in Karenni State in November. Allied Karenni resistance forces completed their capture of Mese Township on the Thailand-Myanmar border in early November and, since launching Operation 1111, have taken over parts of the towns of Demoso and Nan Mei Khon in Karenni State and the town of Moebye, Pekon Township in southern Shan State. So far, the offensive has overrun over 20 junta bases and camps in Karenni State. This included the takeover of the police headquarters, district court, and Loikaw University campus in the state capital, which forced the surrender of two entire junta battalions stationed at the university.

Resistance fighters seize military’s last base in Shadaw Township, Karenni State

Following the launch of Operation 1111 and takeover of Mese Township in early November, Shadaw is the second township to fall fully under the control of anti-junta forces in Karenni State

Subscribe for full access to

What was behind the KNLA’s withdrawal from Myawaddy?

Myanmar military launches lethal airstrike on Chin State hospital

Clashes, shelling, airstrikes continue in Karen State after junta retakes Myawaddy

Tensions increase between ethnic armed organisations in Kutkai, northern Shan State

Real victory in Rakhine State means defeating the Myanmar junta’s divide-and-rule tactics

Give credit where it’s due: An open letter to Hunterbrook Media

Junta’s conscription plan will only hasten the end of military rule in Myanmar

Myanmar’s junta is up to its old tricks with attempt to play the ‘Suu Kyi card’

Myanmar military launches lethal airstrike on Chin State hospital

Clashes, shelling, airstrikes continue in Karen State after junta retakes Myawaddy

Tensions increase between ethnic armed organisations in Kutkai, northern Shan State

‘Neutral’ Border Guard Force helped Myanmar military retake Myawaddy: KNU

Myanmar ethnic armed group condemns three members to death

Myanmar regime scrambles to deal with loss of border trade hubs

Myanmar’s economy declines despite junta claims of progress

Myanmar junta detains gold traders for ‘unlicensed transactions’

Foreign commerce falls by more than 11 percent

MNDAA reopens two Myanmar-China border trading points

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access to

Related Articles