As junta soldiers have withdrawn from Asia Highway 1 (AH1) in Kawkareik Township, Karen State they have left landmines planted in the areas they occupied.

On 11 April 2024, the junta launched its Operation Aung Zeya to take back control of AH1, between Myawaddy Town on the border with Thailand and Kawkareik Town, from a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) led resistance coalition.

But after suffering many casualties and captured soldiers the junta decided to abandon Operation Aung Zeya at the beginning of March 2025 and between 1 and 15 March it withdrew its troops from the outskirts of Kawkareik Town and along AH1 in Kawkareik Township, including the villages of Kawnwae, Tatan Kuu, Yele Kone, Ywatit Kone and Tatanku. But, as they withdrew they planted landmines.

An officer from the resistance coalition said: “In the mountain ranges, junta columns took heavy casualties from KNLA coalition ambushes, with some soldiers captured alive. As they were forced to retreat in disarray, they planted landmines before leaving.”

The KNLA is now conducting demining in the areas abandoned by the junta soldiers and finding many landmines.

The aforementioned resistance coalition officer said: “The KNLA has already cleared hundreds of these mines, especially in areas where the junta set up temporary camps or dug trenches. There have been cases where landmines exploded at the entrances to nearby villages and on roads leading to plantations, causing casualties among both locals and resistance fighters. So, everyone needs to stay alert to the risks of landmines.”

Since the junta retreated from its positions along the AH1 in Kawkareik Township the focus of fighting in the area has switched to Tatanku Village in Kawkareik Township, where the junta's main command centre for Operation Aung Zeya is located.

Since 15 March, the KNLA-led coalition has encircled the Shwe Kyet Min Monastery in Tatanku Village in Kawkareik Township, where the junta set up the command centre. There is ongoing fierce fighting there, according to another frontline source from the KNLA.

He said to KIC: “The junta’s been trying to send reinforcements to the Shwe Kyet Min Monastery in Tatanku, but they've been blocked by KNLA forces around nearby villages like Kawtnwe, Yankoke, and Sinkone. The junta’s tried using drone bombings and artillery barrages from the Kawkareik Township-based Military Operations Command 12 (MOC 12) to break through, but so far, it's been unsuccessful. Even its retreating columns from the mountain ranges haven't been able to make it to Tatanku.”

Sources close to the junta have indicated that junta soldiers have also planted landmines  in Kawkareik Township along the Kyondoe to Koetaing to Taungkyarinn road and near to the junta battalion base and security outposts in Kyondoe Town, also in Kawkareik Township.