Myanmar guerrillas take base, leading to airstrikes
Associated Press
BANGKOK – Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base Tuesday near the border with Thailand, representing a morale-boosting action for those opposing the military s takeover of the country s civilian government in February.
Myanmar s military staged airstrikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces, according to a guerrilla spokesman, a senior Thai official and a relief worker.
The fighting took place three days after a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders to try to hammer out a plan to restore peace in Myanmar, where the military government has attempted to suppress widespread opposition to its rule through the use of lethal force. More then 700 protesters and bystanders have been killed by security forces, according to several estimates. The junta s figure is about one-third of that.
Ethnic Karen rebels, now training nearly 300 Burmese for urban insurgency, have unleashed a fresh offensive in eastern Myanmar near the Thailand border, capturing a military base and withstanding air strikes.A rebel spokesman said fighters of .
Photo courtesy Friends Without Borders Foundation
Hundreds of Thai villagers who live along Thailand’s border with Myanmar were evacuated to safe areas after Karen rebels attacked a Burmese army outpost near the frontier on Tuesday, the governor of Mae Hong Song province said.
The borderland residents were moved to an area farther inside Thai territory where they could shelter, amid reports of fresh fighting between the Myanmar government forces and Karen rebels, who claimed they seized a military base early Tuesday.
“About 450 villagers in Mae Sam Lab were evacuated to safe areas in Mae Kong Kard village,” Gov. Sithichai Chindaluang told reporters.
SMOKE rises from the Myanmar army camp, near the border with Thailand. AP
BANGKOK: Ethnic Karen guerillas said they captured a Myanmar army base on Tuesday near the border with Thailand, representing a morale-boosting action for those opposing the military’s takeover of the country’s civilian government in February.
Myanmar’s military staged air strikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces, said a guerilla spokesman, a senior Thai official and a relief worker.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union, the minority’s main political group seeking greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, said its armed wing attacked the base at 5am and burned it down just after dawn.
April 28, 2021
BANGKOK (AP) – Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base yesterday in what represents a morale-boosting action for those opposing the military’s takeover of the country’s civilian government in February.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU), the minority’s main political group seeking greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, said the group’s armed wing attacked the base at 5am and burned it down just after dawn.
Casualty figures were not yet known, the KNU’s head of foreign affairs, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, said in a text message. There was no immediate comment from Myanmar’s military government.