A January 29th, 2010 skirmish between 10 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 408 and 20 Karen National Union (KNU) soldiers has resulted in the death of a LIB No. 408 sergeant. A second soldier from the battalion was reported wounded; no KNU soldiers were injured.

The confrontation reportedly occurred near 62 Mile Village in Kaleinaung Sub township, Yebyu Township. The region lies in SPDC territory. According to villagers from nearby Yebu village, the clash was reportedly catalyzed when members of LIB No. 408, the battalion in control of the area, learned that the KNU contingent had been extorting money from buses traveling from Tavoy Town to Rangoon, on a road a short distance from 62 Mile Village.

According to a Yebu villagers, at 6:30 am a group of about 20 KNU soldiers stopped the first of a line of 13 buses traveling on the Tavoy Town to Rangoon route, just outside of 62 Mile Village. The soldiers apparently demanded 100,000 kyat from each truck driver before allowing the vehicles to proceed. The trucks then continued traveling along the road until the nearest stop, in Yebu village, where frightened passengers shared news of the extortions with villagers.

“As I asked the passengers, when the buses were stopped they though that they would be robbed. But the KNU soldiers did not ask [money] from the passengers. They just asked for it from the truck driver,” a Yabu villager told IMNA.

A total of 13 buses bearing news of KNU extortion passed through Yabu village on the day of the 29th; by this point, news of the incident had spread both back to Tavoy town, and up road to LIB No. 408, based in nearby Kaleinaung Sub-township. According to reports, the fighting occurred once all the trucks had passed through the area, and no passengers or drivers were caught in the crossfire.

“They [the drivers] had to pay 100,000 kyat to the KNU soldiers, but the fighting began when the trucks were away from the KNU soldiers,” a ticket officer at the Tavoy town bus station informed IMNA.