Mizzima News

Chiang Mai – Fresh fire fights between Burma Army troops and Karen forces have begun. A Karen soldier was killed in action this morning in skirmishes in Kawkareik Township.

Combined forces of the Burma Army and 'Democratic Karen Buddhist Army' (DKBA), which split from the 'Karen National Union' (KNU) fighting for autonomy, attacked a KNU outpost in Wawlaykhe region 45 kilometres south of Mae Sod on the Thai-Burma border in the wee hours of the morning.

"We caught one soldier of the Burma Army and lost one of our soldiers in the encounter," KNU, the political wing of the 'Karen National Liberation Army' (KNLA), Information Department in-charge Pado Saw Hla Ngwe told Mizzima. 

The combined enemy forces comprising 40 soldiers attacked a KNLA outpost manned by just seven soldiers. The encounter lasted about two hours, Pado Saw Hla Ngwe said.

'Wawlay' is an old outpost of the KNLA and KNU could not confirm whether this outpost was overrun by the enemy or the enemy withdrew.