The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the country’s oldest ethnic rebel group the Karen National Union (KNU), and its allies seized the junta military’s Pulutu base near the Thai border in Hpa-an District, Karen State on Friday.
The rebel forces managed to seize the base, where soldiers of the regime’s Infantry Battalion 31 were stationed, early Friday morning after nearly a month of fighting, according to Thai and Karen media outlets.
KNU officials didn’t respond to The Irrawaddy’s calls seeking comment.
Citing a KNLA battalion commander, the Karen Information Center (KIC) reported that two regime soldiers were killed and four arrested during the raid. Eleven others fled across the Moei River into Thailand.
In previous clashes, KNLA snipers killed six regime soldiers from the Pulutu base, the KNLA commander told the media.
The Thai army detained and provided humanitarian aid to the regime soldiers who escaped Friday’s resistance attack, according to Thai media outlet The Reporters, which added that the Thai military has boosted security along the border to protect its citizens and prevent any violation of Thailand’s sovereignty.
In early February, a force comprising around 100 troops from the KNLA and its allies seized the junta’s strategic Mae Pale base in Mon State’s Belin Township, capturing 29 soldiers including a battalion commander. A major and a captain were among 29 regime forces killed during the fighting for the base, the KNU said.
The Karen ethnic armed organization has trained and armed several thousand anti-regime activists since the junta slaughtered hundreds of peaceful anti-coup demonstrators nationwide in 2021.
Alongside several resistance groups including the People’s Defense Force, which is the armed wing of the civilian National Unity Government, the KNU’s armed wings are fighting the junta in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions, as well as in the junta’s administrative capital Naypyitaw with drone attacks.
The junta is using drones and warplanes to bomb mostly civilian targets in KNU-held territory, causing civilian casualties.
