Karen resistance forces, PDFs ambush junta troops advancing on Myawaddy

By Admin 18 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
18 April 2024, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has been conducting a military operation to retake Myawaddy, a key border trade town on the Thai-Myanmar border that was seized by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO) and allied People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups.

The Karen National Union, the political wing of the KNLA and the KNDO, said in a statement on Thursday that the combined forces of the KNLA, KNDO and PDFs have been ambushing junta troops advancing to Myawaddy, effectively impeding them.

The regime has suffered more than 100 casualties and military trucks including armoured vehicles were damaged in the ambushes, said the KNU. DMG could not independently verify its report. Junta troops advancing to Myawaddy have been stuck west of the Dawna mountains, said the KNU statement.

The regime has launched the national-level Operation ‘Aung Zeya’ offensive after the KNLA-led combined forces defeated the last junta battalion — Infantry Battalion 275 — in Myawaddy recently.

Junta troops, as they were advancing to Myawaddy, carried out air and artillery strikes on residential areas, killing and injuring civilians and destroying and damaging their property, said the KNU.

DMG’s calls to junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.