Karen News

The KWO has evolved into a powerful force for change, with its membership now exceeding 70,000 women. In 2023 alone, more than 140,582 women, men, and children were counted as direct beneficiaries of their programs. Operating across seven Karen National Union (KNU) Districts inside Burma and seven refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, the organization has built an impressive infrastructure…

Since the beginning of April 2025, junta-appointed administrative officials from Hpa-An City’s Ward 4 have been demanding that young women pay 5,000 MMK and young men pay 30,000 MMK to a ‘conscription fund’ to ensure they will not be conscripted. A young woman from Hpa-An’s Ward 4 said to KIC: “Four ward administration officials came to our house. We thought…

On 16 April, the final day of the traditional Myanmar Thingyan Water Festival that celebrates the beginning of the new year from 13 to 16 April, junta airstrikes hit seven villages in Kawakareik Township, Karen State. On the morning of 16 April airstrikes hit the Kawkareik Township villages of Laytaing, Inngyi and Tharyakone. No casualties were reported, but Aungchanthar Monastery…

On 7 April 2025, the KNU and junta troops fought in Mawdaung Town, which is on the border with Thailand. After the fighting had subsided in the town a junta drone dropped the suspected chemical weapon onto KNU soldiers in Theinkhun Village on the outskirts of Mawdaung Town, according to Padoh Saw Eh Nar, the KNU Secretary for the districts…

In mid-March 2025, around 900 junta troops, in three columns, entered and stationed themselves in Yebyu Town to the east of the Dawei SEZ project and Launglon Town to the south of the SEZ. Comrade Shadow, a spokesperson for Launglon Township People’s Defence Force (Launglon PDF) said: “The junta sent about 900 troops to the two towns, but around 100…

Naw Say War, a 58-year-old teacher, set up the school six years ago after she first went to Kyu Kho Village and saw that there was no school there. Seven years ago, whilst travelling through Hpapun District, an area mainly controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), Naw Say War came across Kyu Kho, a small village made up of…

The junta’s battalion headquarters in Kawkareik Township, mobile artillery battalions and drones have been shelling the villages since 2 April, the day the junta’s claimed ceasefire began, according to an officer of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) who spoke to KIC. He said: “The junta has been bombarding villages north and south of Kawkareik Township almost every day since…

Palaw Township is an area mainly under control of the Karen National Union (KNU), which carries out healthcare in the area. According to a woman working for the KNU’s Kawthoolei Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) who spoke to KIC, a 30-year-old woman and an infant died in Palaw District after malaria spread to their brains. She said: “Malaria cases…

Though the 7.7-magnitude earthquake had its epicentre under Sagaing City about 228 miles (367 km) to the north of Taungoo Town it still caused a lot of damage in the town. According to collated data, as of 3 April, the earthquake had killed 17 people, including six children, and destroyed approximately 100 houses in Taungoo Town. As aid teams have…

International media has been eager to enter Myanmar to cover the aftermath of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake with its epicentre in Sagaing. It caused widespread destruction to cities, towns, and villages, including the cities of Sagaing, Mandalay, Tada-U, Taungoo, and the capital, Naypyidaw. But, the junta has refused to allow journalists from international media organisations to enter the country, because…