[Tee tiong huat]

Myanmar Junta Counteroffensive Yet to Breach Karen Defenses: KNU

Large numbers of junta troops advancing on Myawaddy on the Thai border have not breached most anti-regime defensive lines, according to the Karen National Union (KNU).

The regime in mid-April dispatched around 500 troops as part of the Operation Aung Zeya counteroffensive to retake Thingan Nyi Naung village and Myawaddy.




The troops equipped with armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and a mobile bridge reached the Dawna hills along the Asian Highway beyond Kawkareik town. The regime provided air support.

Junta troops occupied the Dawna hills after anti-regime forces deployed withdrew, according to a resistance fighter.

“The Karen National Liberation Army [KNLA] and Karen National Defense Organization are deployed in Thingan Nyi Naung village. It will be difficult for the regime to take it,” he said.

Padoh Saw Kalel Say of the KNU said junta troops are attempting to advance on other routes along the Asian Highway but anti-regime forces have prepared defenses.

“Most regime troops are coming by the Asian Highway but others are coming from other directions. But we have made preparations,” he said.

The KNLA and resistance allies on April 5 seized a junta battalion headquarters in Thingan Nyi Naung, sparking the regime’s Operation Aung Zeya.

Deputy junta chief Soe Win is overseeing the operation at the Southeastern Command with 55 Division troops from northern Shan State to Karen State via Mon State.

Junta troops at the Taw Naw waterfall in the Dawna hills. / The Irrawaddy

The regime has also reinforced Mon State with troops arriving from northern Shan State, according to the Mon State Defense Force chairman, Thiri Mon Chan. The regime also carried out counteroffensives in Kawkareik and Kawbein towns along the Gyaing River. It has told displaced residents to return, and provided them with supplies as psychological warfare, said residents.

The regime retook Infantry Battalion 275 in Myawaddy with assistance from the military-affiliated Karen State Border Guard Force. 

The sudden recapture of the battalion misled people about the anti-regime forces, observers say. Former major Tin Lin Aung, a defector from the military, urged people to support anti-regime forces despite junta ploys. The defense against the counter offensive depends on their access to weapons, ammunition and food,” he said.

The regime still has three key hilltop bases in Lay Kay Kaw, Waw Lay and Thae Thaw Bo in the area where KNU Brigade 6 is active. The bases are cut off by anti-regime forces and junta reinforcements cannot reach them, said Tin Lin Aung. Anti-regime forces will be able to retain the territory by ambushing junta reinforcements, said military analysts.

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-again...s-knu.html