Mizzima
Defence forces have halted the advance of a junta military column being sent to re-capture the town of Myawaddy, on the Thai border in Karen State.
Following the 11 April capture of the junta’s Infantry Battalion 275, the last junta military base in Myawaddy, the junta launched the ‘Aung Zeya Operation’ to re-take Myawaddy Town.
To this aim a column of junta soldiers was sent to Myawaddy. On 11 April the column, consisting of eight armoured vehicles, 22 military vehicles and about 500 soldiers arrived in Kawkareik Township, just west of the Dawana Mountain Range in Karen State, en route to Myawaddy.
But on 11 April, the Karen National Union’s (KNU’s) Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied forces attacked the column near to the villages of Tantagu and Kawtnwe in Kawkareik Township.
Since 11 April the fighting has been ongoing with the defence forces and the junta column clashing every day.
Currently, the junta forces are being contained near to Kawtne Village and are seeking a way to continue on to Myawaddy Town.
The military column also caused civilian casualties and damaged houses when it fired artillery at houses and non-military targets on its route and called in airstrikes, according to the KNU.
Civilians were also forced to flee when the junta fired artillery in Kawkareik Township, including into the villages of Kamaingkone, Anphalay, Maungma, and Yaykyawlay, on the morning of 17 April.
Junta armoured cars and military cars were destroyed during fighting in Kawkareik, according to the KNU.
But, no casualty figures for the ongoing fighting in Kawkareik have been issued by the KNU or any other reliable organisation. A local news media outlet reported that 100 junta soldiers had been killed, though it is not known how accurate the report is, it could well be an inflated figure.
