Almost 6,000 Myanmar junta troops have reportedly been killed in clashes in Karen State since last year, including around 369 deaths in October.
The country’s oldest rebel group the Karen National Union (KNU) and its armed wings, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and Karen National Defense Organizations, have been fighting the regime since March last year after hundreds of peaceful anti-regime demonstrators were killed across the country.
Resistance groups trained and armed by the KNU fight with the Karen forces in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions.
The rebel group said on Monday that 286 clashes with regime troops and its border guard allies were reported during October.
Around 369 regime troops were killed and 302 injured while six resistance fighters were killed and 46 suffered injuries, according to the KNU. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
Four regime soldiers surrendered, 33 soldiers were captured, 18 military vehicles were destroyed and the junta conducted six airstrikes last month, according to the KNU.
On October 28, the KNLA and its allies raided a police outpost in Kawkareik Township, Karen State, killing a regime soldier and seizing around 20 weapons and ammunition.
Another heavy clash broke out in Kawkareik town on October 21 when Karen troops attacked junta targets, including a district police office and an administrative office.
The junta responded with indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombardments of resistance forces and residential areas.
On October 16, sixteen soldiers, including a major and two captains, were captured along with weapons when Karen resistance troops attacked junta reinforcements in the northwest of Kyainseikgyi Township in Karen State.
Six other junta soldiers were reportedly killed.
The KNU said 3,664 regime and border militia troops have been killed and 2,700 injured in 3,845 clashes with Karen forces between January and October.
An estimated 2,190 junta troops were killed and 2,048 injured in 3,152 clashes last year.
More than 300,000 civilians have fled their homes with more than a third of them urgently needing humanitarian aid, the KNU reported.
