Clashes between the junta and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) are escalating as regime troops push to retake Mobye town in Pekon Township, southern Shan State, on the Karenni State border, according to residents and the KNDF.
Residents report that junta reinforcements are arriving via the Loikaw road and advancing on Mobye from different directions, while Light Infantry Battalion 422 bombards the town with artillery.
Mobye is nearly deserted after thousands of residents fled following the regime’s advance on the KNDF-held town in early December. The KNDF is a coalition of Karenni armed groups formed after the 2021 coup.
Junta artillery strikes on Mobye in February alone killed at least five civilians, including women and children, injured another 11 severely, and destroying 60 buildings including houses, places of worship, schools and clinics, the KNDF said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Fighting has also broken out in [Karenni’s] Loikaw, Hpasaung, and Bawlakhae townships over the past month, but Mobye has seen the heaviest clashes. The junta has suffered significant casualties while we have also lost some comrades,” said a KNDF member.
The KNDF stated it was taking good care of seven junta soldiers who surrendered and another eight who abandoned their units and fled into the jungle.
Mobye sits between the Karenni capital of Loikaw and southern Shan State, both controlled by the junta, about 200km east of Naypyitaw.
The junta has reportedly suffered heavy losses during its two-month push to retake Mobye, deploying new conscripts and the allied Pa-O National Army.
Pekon Township lies about 40km from Loikaw and is home to Military Operations Commands 2 and 7. Karenni resistance forces seized most of Pekon Township, including Mobye, early last year.
