Myanmar junta troops have abandoned their Phuchimu outpost in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township following an attack by combined forces of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and People’s Defense Force (PDF).
Around 100 junta troops from Light Infantry Battalions 558 and 561 and Infantry Battalion 993 were deployed at the outpost, located in territory where Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 6 is active. The KNU is the political wing of the KNLA.
Combined forces cut off the outpost’s supply routes for months before launching the attack on Friday, according to a KNLA fighter.
“They fled when we attacked. They blew up heavy weapons that they could not carry,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Some junta troops surrendered with their weapons while others were captured as the outpost was being surrounded, said a PDF member. The remainder fled in various directions when resistance forces launched the attack.
Some 20 junta soldiers fleeing toward the Thai border killed three men and a pregnant woman on Sunday, said a local.
“They killed four people on their way to the border. They shot dead three and beat the fourth to death with a rifle butt,” she said.
The soldiers were fleeing toward the Thai border village of Paikhalan in Tak province, the resident added.
“The Phuchimu outpost is some way from the border,” she noted. “It is accessible from Kyaikdon Town, and there are villages between Phuchimu and the border.”
Combined resistance forces are reportedly intercepting junta troops fleeing from Phuchimu but have yet to find the soldiers accused of killing the four civilians.
In March, resistance attacks forced junta troops to abandon their bases in Mae Tha Raw Hta village and Yay Tashauk, located 40 miles south of Phuchimu, and flee to Thailand. Thai authorities then handed them back to the regime.
