Despite the junta declaring a unilateral ceasefire from 2 to 22 April 2025 to allow for earthquake relief efforts it bombed villages in Kawkareik Township in Karen State more than 100 times between 2 and 8 April.
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 it declared a ceasefire. Even though it claimed to halt operations, its units never actually stopped the attacks. Junta battalions based in Kyondoe Town [in Kawkareik Township] have been shelling Koetaing, Taingkwei, and Weikzarkone villages. Villages around Kawkareik Town and along the Asia Highway 1 (AH1), like Yankoke, Kawtnwe, Tatanku, and communities up in the hills—have been hit by both artillery and drones. On average, each village is getting hit with five to ten shells or other explosives daily. The bombardments clearly intensified after 6 April, and now the total number of strikes has already gone beyond 100.”
The junta has been sending more reinforcements to its military columns in Kawkareik Township since the ceasefire started and it is believed to be profiting from it by reorganising its weapons and manpower during the ceasefire period, according to a spokesperson for the KNLA’s Kawkareik Military Region 31.
He said: “The junta is launching bombardments every day and sending reinforcements from Hpa-An and Kyondoe to Kawkareik using different routes. Its so-called ceasefire isn’t trustworthy at all. I’m not sure about other parts of the country, but here in Kawkareik, the junta is obviously replenishing both ammunition and manpower [during the ceasefire].”
More recently, on 8 April, the junta's Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 545, based in Kyondoe, fired two artillery shells at Yaepu Village.
Also on 8 April, a junta artillery position on a hill in Hlaingwa Village shelled the area around Yankoke Village to provide cover for a junta column. Locals reported that there were also several skirmishes between the KNLA-led coalition and junta columns in areas east of Yankoke Village that day.
