Ethnic Karen rebels recaptured the junta’s Thay Baw Boe base near the Thai-Myanmar border in Myawaddy Township, Karen State on Tuesday, after regime troops raised the white flag and surrendered to joint resistance forces.
The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), an armed wing of the country’s oldest ethnic revolutionary group the Karen National Union (KNU), and allied resistance groups including units of the People’s Defense Force (PDF), which is the armed wing of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), launched an offensive to seize the base from around 100 junta troops on Tuesday morning, according to resistance sources.
A resident told The Irrawaddy that during the fighting, a junta base in nearby Waw Lay provided artillery support to the Thay Baw Boe base.
In its failed attempt to defend the base, the junta sent three fighter jets and two Y-12 airplanes to conduct airstrikes, prompting the Thai military to scramble two F-16 fighter jets to conduct aerial patrols and deter foreign armed incursions, according to Thai media reports.
Thai authorities have stepped up border patrols and provided shelter for over 500 Myanmar nationals near the clash site who crossed the border seeking refuge from the fighting.
Citing frontline resistance forces, Karen media reported that the KNU and allies captured the base after more than 70 regime forces raised white flags and surrendered their weapons and the base.
The bodies of around 34 dead regime troops were found at the seized base, a resistance member told the Karen Information Center. Videos show Karen rebel forces seizing a large haul of weapons and ammunition from the base.
On May 28, the KNLA and allied resistance forces defeated a military unit of around 72 troops sent from the Waw Lay base to defend the Thay Baw Boe base. The unit was blocked and defeated near Sone Si Myaing on the border with Thailand when it arrived there after passing through Thai territory.
The resistance forces captured around 30 troops from the junta unit and killed or injured several others.
Thay Baw Boe is a former KNU base that was seized by the previous military regime over 30 years ago.
The KNU and its allies retook the base in May 2022, but retreated after heavy junta airstrikes. The KNU and resistance allies have recently seized over a dozen junta bases along the border with Thailand in Karen State.
Since the 2021 coup, the KNU has trained and armed several thousand anti-regime activists and helped the NUG with the formation of PDFs.
Along with several resistance groups, the KNU is fighting the regime in Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi and Bago regions, and has attacked regime targets in the capital, Naypyitaw.
