Resistance fighters led by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) said on Sunday they had taken control of Mawchi town in Hpasawng Township, Karenni (Kayah) State.
Mawchi is the second town seized by the KNDF in Karenni State after Mese.
“They [junta troops] have been driven out of Mawchi,” a KNDF resistance fighter told The Irrawaddy, without providing details.
A KNDF statement said regime troops had abandoned all bases, checkpoints, and hilltop outposts in Mawchi after resistance fighters seized a hilltop outpost and a junta position outside the town on Saturday.
Mawchi, located 149 km from the state capital of Loikaw, is famous for producing tin and tungsten.
Mawchi is also situated just 177 km from the military nerve center of Taungoo in Bago Region, which hosts infantry battalions 39 and 73, two artillery battalions, combat support units, an air force base and military training schools.
The KNDF said last week that several battalions in Karenni State had agreed to defect to the resistance.
Since launching its anti-regime Operation 1111 in November, the KNDF has seized some 20 junta positions in Karenni State’s Loikaw and Demoso and neighboring Shan State’s Moebye. It has now gained control of two-thirds of the Karenni capital, Loikaw.
The KNDF said it also seized hilltop junta positions guarding the 7th Military Operations Command in Pekon, located on the border of Shan and Karenni states, this month.
The regime is ramping up air raids in Karenni State as fighting escalates and its ground troops lose ground, the KNDF said.
The Karen National Union (KNU) is also attacking junta positions in Taungoo. Earlier this month, junta troops retreated from three permanent bases in Taungoo where they had been stationed for more than 28 years, the KNU said.
