Myanmar’s junta has launched air attacks against a Karenni Army (KA) camp following clashes near Hway Pu Laung on the Thai border.
Planes fired on the KA, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), about five times on Hway Pu Laung hill on Friday morning, according to Khu Daniel, the KNPP’s secretary.
Around 200 villagers fled crossed the border into the Thai province of Mae Hong Song because of the airstrikes, said Khu Daniel.
Hway Pu Laung has seen heavy fighting between the KA and Myanmar’s military in the past and battles have resumed since the February coup.
The KA, in collaboration with the Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces and people’s defense forces (PDFs), has been fighting the junta. The resistance forces say they have inflicted heavy casualties on junta soldiers.
Khu Daniel said fighting would continue while junta troops were deployed in the state and he warned residents to be alert.
The KA and PDFs say they hold ground in towns across Kayah State.
At least 23 junta soldiers, including two captains, were killed and many others injured in fighting in the capital, Loikaw, and Demoso Township on Thursday, according to resistance forces.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify any of the reports.
A two-hour, early morning attack by PDFs and the KNDF on junta troops near Kayan Thar Yar village on Thursday killed 15 regime soldiers, according to the KNDF.
In Demoso, fighting reportedly broke out when three groups of junta troops attacked. The KNDF claimed that eight junta troops were killed.
According to the KNDF, by December 31 more than 80 clashes had occurred in Kayah State and nearly 300 junta soldiers had been killed, while 13 KNDF fighters had died. It said there had been around 146 civilian deaths.
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