Bangkok (Mizzima) – Renewed fighting between Burmese government troops and units from a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) continued in Kyaikdon sub-township in Kyain Seikgyi Township in Karen State on Saturday and Sunday, according to a DKBA official.
An estimated 60 soldiers from government infantry Battalion 543 under Military Operations Command 5 and troops from DKBA battalions 901, 902 and 908, led by Colonel Saw Lah Pwe (aka) Bo Moustache, clashed between Kyaikdon and Minarah village from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Several soldiers and a villager died in the fighting, according to a DKBA official. The villager, from Hlaphan village in Kawkareik Township, died on his way from the village to the Nu Po camp on the Thai-Burmese border.
The number of dead and wounded was not available.
During the fight, soldiers in KNU Battalion 17 and Battalion 18 were held in reserve, and were not needed to reinforce DKBA troops, sources said.
The eastern part of Haungtharaw Creek is under the control of unit 1 of KNU Battalion 18 and the western part is under the control of unit 1 of KNU Battalion 17.
The regime has sent reinforcements from a unit based in Winlone to the scene of the battle, but the reinforcements had not arrived as of Monday evening, according to KNU sources.
More battles are expected in the coming days, sources said.
Unconfirmed reports said that on Saturday, April 23, soldiers in DKBA Battalion 333, which has rejected the government’s Border Guard Force plan, overran a DKBA headquarters (which had accepted the Border Guard Force plan) in the Myainggyingu region, where they seized vehicles and set arsenals on fire.
