The Karen National Union (KNU) and allied forces seized the headquarters of a junta battalion as well as an armory in Karen State’s Papun town on Saturday and are now focused on capturing junta positions outside the strategic town.
“Junta troops have been completely driven out of Papun. The town is now controlled by KNU Brigade 5,” a resistance fighter said after the headquarters of the junta’s Infantry Battalion 19 and its Armory 642 in Papun were captured on Saturday.
The KNU and allied forces have been attacking junta troops defending Papun for about two weeks.
The town is located in the northern tip of Karen, near the state’s borders with Bago Region, Karenni (Kayah) State and Thailand.
KNU Brigade 5 severed communications between at least four junta positions south of Papun on March 19.
A member of KNU Brigade 5 said a large number of weapons were seized after the junta battalion was defeated on Saturday. “We have seized more than 100 pieces of small arms as well as two .5 machine guns and two large guns … typical weapons seized when a battalion is defeated,” the source explained.
A tactical command headquarters and three light infantry battalions – 340, 341 and 434 – are still defending the town and a Y-12 aircraft is providing air support.
“A Y-12 aircraft has been bombing [Papun] since March 19 … day and night. A bombing raid lasts for three to four hours,” said the source from KNU Brigade 5.
During the operation in Papun, KNU troops told residents to gather at a monastery and then evacuated them to safety, said a former resident of the town whose relatives were also reportedly evacuated from the town.
“I heard they were evacuated to Ka Ma Maung town [but] I still don’t have got contact with them,” she told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.
She said she had not heard reports of residents being trapped in Papun.
Two civilians were killed and homes were damaged by junta air and artillery strikes during the early days of fighting for the town, according to the information department of KNU Brigade 5.
