Fighting between soldiers from the government’s Border Guard Force (BGF) and a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) occurred yesterday at around 10am and continued into today on the old Kawkareik-Myawaddy Road, Karen News reported on 9 October.
The area where the latest fighting took place has recently been the centre of many shootings according to the report. On October 6, an incident between the DKBA and BGF on the Kawkareik-Myawaddy old road between Kaung Mu and Tuang Thone Lone resulted in the fatal shooting of three men.
The shootings happened at a BGF checkpoint when its soldiers attempted to stop a pickup. The pickup refused to stop and the BGF troops opened fire killing three men believed to be DKBA soldiers. DKBA officials later denied that the three men belonged to their organization.