Junta airstrikes killed at least two resistance fighters in eastern Kayah State as regime troops attempted to seize Mese Town near the border with Thailand, according to local resistance forces.
At least two members of the Karenni Army were killed by aerial bombing of resistance targets on Saturday, according to the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF).
Fierce fighting has continued to rage in Mase and Hpaswang townships since last month when the junta sent heavy reinforcements to Kayah State in an attempt to regain lost territory.
Mese Town was seized by allied resistance forces after the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, a local border guard force, joined the resistance in June.
At least 9,000 residents of the state remained displaced in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province as of July 17, according to the United Nations.
Since Wednesday, another junta column has clashed with combined resistance forces on Demoso-Hpruso Road in an attempt to safeguard their convoy of reinforcements and food supplies for their bases in Hpruso Township.
At least 84 junta soldiers and two KNDF fighters were killed during the clashes in July, the KNDF said on Saturday.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the numbers.
Junta warplanes conducted at least 42 airstrikes in the state in July, killing at least four civilians, including one child, and wounding eight more people, according to the KNDF.
It also said eight civilians lost their lives and 14 more were injured by indiscriminate shelling and extrajudicial killings by the regime in July.
