Ethnic resistance groups have seized a strategic junta base on Swal Taw Mountain at Lay Kay Kaw near the Thai border in Myawaddy Township, Karen State.
The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), and allied resistance groups captured the hilltop artillery base on Thursday after a four-month siege, the resistance groups told the media.
The Cobra Column, a joint force made up of the KNLA and the People’s Defense Force loyal to the civilian National Unity Government, revealed photos of the seized junta base and weapons they captured.
They told the media that they first started seven months ago to try and take control of the hilltop fastness, which was notorious for randomly shelling civilian targets in nearby villages.
In August, the resistance groups intensified their attack by cutting off access routes to regime forces.
The junta conducted airstrikes to defend it, but early on Thursday morning the regime forces, including a strategist from Military Division 44, finally abandoned the base and fled.
Karen media reported that the resistance groups arrested some regime troops alive during the fighting.
The base is crucial for the security of the border trade hub of Myawaddy.
In April, the resistance occupied Thin Gan Nyi Naung town near the entrance to Myawaddy after days of intense fighting. Since then, KNLA and PDF groups have blocked road access to Myawaddy from Kawkareik Township, effectively controlling the Asian Highway that links Myawaddy with Sagaing Region’s Tamu Township on the Indian border.
In April, the junta launched a counteroffensive named Operation Aung Zeya aiming to retake Myawaddy, but its troops were pinned down in the Dawna Mountain Range for months by the KNLA and allied PDF groups.
The counteroffensive eventually crumbled as regime forces retreated and dispersed into Mon State and Tanintharyi Region.
