The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) said it recaptured the Manerplaw area of Karen State on Monday, where its headquarters were based 30 years ago.
The KNLA, the armed wing of Karen National Union (KNU), and its allies began attacking the junta outpost held by around 100 regime troops in Manerplaw village, Hpa-an district, in early December.
KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Kalal Say told The Irrawaddy: “We recaptured Manerplaw after seizing the camp and other outposts around it fell.”
He said weapons, shells and drones were seized.
“This has been our goal from the beginning: to eliminate the military bases in Manerplaw and recapture our former headquarters. It was always an objective for us. There were casualties on both sides during the fighting,” Padoh Saw Kalal Say said.
The KNLA, Karen National Defense Organization – an older armed wing of the KNU – and other allies have surrounded Manerplaw for months.
A KNLA soldier said: “We found at least 10 dead troops and have faced airstrikes since.”
Lieutenant Colonel Phyo Thiha, commander of Artillery Battalion 311, and a sergeant were among the troops detained.
Manerplaw on the Moei River was the proposed capital of an independent Karen state, known as Kawthoolei. The KNU headquarters was established in 1975.
After the 1988 uprising against military rule, the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, Democratic Party for a New Society and the National Democratic Front were based in Manerplaw. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma was also established in Manerplaw in 1990.
Manerplaw was seized by the military and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a KNU split group, in January 1995.
The KNLA and its allies say they are continuing to attack junta bases near the Thai border.
The groups are also fighting along the Kawkareik-Myawaddy road, which is part of the wider Asia Highway.
The junta’s Aung Zeya counteroffensive in mid-September aimed to retake Myawaddy on the Thai border and the Asia Highway but regime forces have since retreated.
