Myanmar’s junta has intensified bombing as its ground troops struggle in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, according to the rebel groups.
Heavy clashes have occurred at the Kyauk mine near Mae Ka Nal village since Tuesday when many junta troops and allied Border Guard Forces attacked.
Several resistance groups and Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the country’s oldest ethnic revolutionary group the Karen Nation Union, are fighting off the junta raids, said the Cobra Column that is taking part in the clashes.
After its ground troops were unable to occupy the area, the junta shelled, and used fighter jets and multiple rocket launchers, according to the resistance groups.
Buildings were damaged and a resistance fighter was injured, the Cobra Column reported.
The fighting was heard 8km away.
“We heard fighting this morning with heavy blasts for several hours. Our house vibrated,” a resident of Myawaddy town told The Irrawaddy on Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, a junta fighter jet bombed the area but no resistance casualties were reported, said the Black Panther Column resistance group.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, 24 regime troops were killed and 23 injured and resistance groups lost two members with seven injuries, said the Cobra Column.
Weapons and ammunition were seized from regime forces.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
Around 3,000 residents from Mae Ka Nel and nearby villages are sheltering at monasteries in Myawaddy town, according to media reports.
