Colonel Saw Htoo Ka Shaw, tactical commander of the KNLA Brigade 5, told Karen News the Burma Army is using the BGF to reinforce its depleted troop numbers because of the high casualties it suffered in recent fighting. “The Burma Army now needs to send weapons and food rations to Papun [its front line bases] because many of its soldiers…
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Reports circulated the Burma Army were putting in place plans to use counter-insurgency strategies against opposition against the military coup – the National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) – taking refuge in KNU controlled territory. Fighting in Karen National Liberation Army 5th and 1st Brigades has now spread to KNLA Brigade 6 and Brigade 7. Local…
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Plans to turn rice fields running from the River Moei up into the Dawna Mountain Range into a giant construction site of large concrete houses, apartment blocks, casinos and an international airport are causing concerns for Karen community groups. The grand plan to turn thousands of acres of Karen land surrounding the small village of Shwe Koko into a mega…
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For the first time, four Karen ethnic armed groups have agreed to hold the district level Karen New Year celebrations on December 26, 2019. Padoh Saw Shwe Maung, the Karen National Union’s Doo Pla Ya District Chairman said. “Karen people have survived many hardships from generation to generation. Even though we are different [armed] organizations, we are the same Karen.…
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Security has been beefed up along the Myanmar-Thai border in response to rumors and scaremongering on social media, according to a member of the Karen State Border Guard Force. “Public concerns are high due to propaganda and indoctrination. We are providing security to prevent unwanted problems,” said Major Naing Maung Zaw, secretary of the Karen State Border Guard Forces (BGF)’s…
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Continued fighting between Karen armed groups are forcing more villages into all ready overcrowded displacement camps. Temporary shelters holding displaced villagers in Myaing Gyi Ngu have seen an increase in its population list due to the ongoing skirmishes in Mae Tha Waw areas, Hlaingbwe Township of Karen state. A shelter official said that there are about 500 more villagers joining…
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Four villagers found sowing seeds on disputed land were arrested on May 23. Officers from the Border Guard Force caught the four villagers as they were planting trees in Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw township. Locals say the plot was made into a protected forest reserve in 2015, but the BGF insists that an overlapping parcel of 600 acres was set aside…
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Soldiers from the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army clashed with the government militia, the Border Guard Force, in Htee Poe Zan village tract near Kawkareik at noon on October 19. The fighting between the DKBA soldiers and the BGF battalion 1017 lasted around 40 minutes, according to local villagers. Major Saw Deedee, Battalion Commander of BGF 1017 confirmed the fighting…
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Government troops claim they have now taken control of the Mae Tha Waw area in Karen State following weeks of intense fighting. The fighting was between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the Burma Army and its militia, the Border Guard Force (BGF). A BGF officer on September 19, claimed that the government has taken control over the road link…
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The Karen National Union has issued a public statement today, September 13, objecting to and calling for an end to fighting in Mae Tha Wor between the the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the government’s military and its militias. The KNU’s statement said that the current military operation jointly carried out by the Burma Army and its militia, the…
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