Myanmar rebels say they have repelled junta push to take back border town

Resistance fighters opposing Myanmar’s military regime said on Sunday that they had thwarted an effort by junta soldiers to move on the rebel-seized vital town of Myawaddy, which is near the Thai border.

According to Karen National Union (KNU) spokeswoman Saw Taw Nee, junta reinforcements had been attempting to move on Myawaddy for days but were driven back in a fight some 40 km distant.

“It is not easy to come here. They face a lot of difficulty,” he told Reuters, saying the KNU’s forces had been “blocking and intercepting” the junta troops.

It was not possible to independently verify the KNU facts. When Reuters called, a representative for the military coup that overthrew an elected government in 2021 did not pick up.

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On Thursday, a group of anti-junta soldiers led by the KNU took over military rule of the border town of Myawaddy, which is close to Thailand.

According to Saw Taw Nee, fighting broke out on Friday between the villages of Kawkareik and Kaw Nwet along the important Asian Highway 1, which heads west from the Thai border.

According to reports from the front lines, the junta’s official count of fighting-related deaths and injuries was about 100, according to the KNU spokeswoman. “We know that they suffered a loss of one armed carrier and a military truck,” he said.

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Myanmar has been in turmoil since 2021, when the powerful military deposed an elected civilian government, triggering widespread protests it sought to crush with force.

Simmering anger against the junta turned into a nationwide armed resistance movement that is now increasingly operating in coordination with established ethnic rebel groups to challenge the military across large parts of Myanmar.

Saw Taw Nee said the resistance “will take time”. “We need to have a kind of coordination with other groups… to defeat the military,” he said.

The KNU spokesperson said there were also challenges working in a broad anti-junta coalition.

“We are still in the process of how to negotiate, how to come together and how to move forward among our Karen groups,” he said, referring to members of the ethnic group residing primarily in Kayin State.

Saw Taw Nee said the immediate concern for the KNU is the more than one million displaced people within its territories, and called on the international community, including neighbouring Thailand, to provide support.

“We really need to work together in the future more and more on this issue,” he said.

He urged Myanmar’s junta to see their recent military setbacks as a sign that they should hand back power to the people.

“Please don’t waste time any more,” he said. “This is the time, and a good opportunity, to listen to people first.”