According to the adjutant general of the Karenni Army (KA), several soldiers stationed at the Nampawng camp, which serves as the final Military Council outpost yet to be occupied in Mese Township, have chosen to surrender, amidst the ongoing intense clashes in Karenni State.
On June 24, Colonel Phone Naing, the adjutant general of KA, provided information to the Kantarawaddy Times stating that a number of Junta troops stationed at the Nampawng camp had fled, while some others had surrendered.
"They call it Nampawng Gate. The camp had 120 mm artillery deployed there. Some soldiers fled, and a few of them ended up being arrested. Others chose to surrender. Based on information from prisoners of war, it seems that a significant number of soldiers from that camp have already fled. It was their last remaining camp in Mese, so if they had continued fighting, they would have faced certain death. That's likely why they ran away”, Colonel Phone Naing suggested.
On June 23rd, the resistance forces successfully seized control of the primary strategic hill camp belonging to the Military Council in Mese. Consequently, only one Military Council base remains in Mese, which is the Nampawng camp.
Colonel Phone Naing also remarked, “With the downfall of all the Military Council camps in Mese, it is possible that the soldiers stationed at the Nampawng camp experienced panic and chose to flee,
in the town, there are no longer any Military Council soldiers, not even the police. They have all fled. We can confidently state that Mese is now under our control. It is likely that they lacked the courage to establish a stronghold in the Nampawng camp and instead chose to flee”, he added.
Since June 13th, the resistance forces have consistently captured almost every Military Council outposts in Mese, including the Mese Myoma police station and Thai-Myanmar border security camps such as BP 14, BP 15 (Metanwe), and BP 16 (Taunghla).
Colonel Phone Naing issued a strong appeal to the local population, urging them to exercise caution, while simultaneously calling on the remaining Junta troops to surrender. He emphasized the resolute determination of the resistance forces to eliminate the Military Council and stated that they would escalate the intensity of the ongoing fighting.
