Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar’s Kayin state plan to launch an attack on government troops to coincide with the official opening of a major highway in the area next month according to a report by RFA on 16 July.
Colonel Saw San Aung, strategic commander for the Klo Htoo Baw Kayin Organisation (KKO), told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the rebels were operating on the defensive but would attack if provoked.
The Asia Highway 1, an Asian Development Bank-subsidized road, linking the town of Myawaddy on the border with Thailand with Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon was initially set to open with a ceremony on July 20, but it has been delayed until an unspecified date next month due to ongoing fighting with the KKO.
According to state media, nearly 40 clashes have occurred in the region since fighting began between the KKO and government troops on 2July after the rebels began operating an unofficial tollbooth on the Asia Highway.
Reports say the Myanmar military has killed four insurgents and taken several into custody, while suffering “some casualties,” over the last two weeks. Saw San Aung confirmed, “two or three of our boys were killed” in clashes.
Saw San Aung also confirmed official reports that government troops had seized 10 KKO vehicles containing weapons and ammunition, but said the supplies were left behind as part of a cache, bought earlier from the military, that had been found to jam during firefights.