The Karen National Union (KNU) announced that its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allied resistance forces, defeated regime forces in two days of fighting and seized its Bawti outpost in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, on Tuesday.
“The outpost was manned by 40 troops,” Padoh Saw Eh Nar, the KNU secretary for the districts of Myeik and Dawei, told DVB. He added that they recovered the bodies of two killed regime troops inside. The KNU claimed that the other 38 troops stationed at the outpost fled across the border into Thailand.
The Bawti outpost, established by the Myanmar Army in 1997, is located on the Myanmar–Thailand border adjacent to Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Province. It was reportedly under the command of the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 25, which is headquartered in the Tanintharyi Region capital Dawei.
Residents told DVB that no retaliatory airstrikes were carried out by the Myanmar Air Force during the two days of fighting due to the outpost’s proximity to Thailand. The Thai Air Force has repeatedly scrambled its jet fighters to protect its borders from regime incursions.
But one civilian was reported injured by residents in a regime airstrike on Amo village, located near the Bawti outpost, on Monday.
Local media reported that the KNLA has seized the regime’s Hteekhee border checkpoint and Hteehta outpost since April. It has also taken control of at least 15 regime outposts in Tanintharyi since last year.
KNLA Vice Chief of Staff Saw Baw Kyaw Heh stated in May that the Karen resistance aimed to clear regime forces from Myeik and Dawei districts, which are located in KNU Brigade 4 territory.
Myawaddy is located 81 miles (130 km) east of the state capital Hpa-An, and adjacent to Thailand’s Tak Province. A source in the KNLA told DVB that around 40 regime troops were either killed or injured during the nine days of fighting over control of the outpost, which began last month.
The Thebawboe outpost, located approximately one mile (1.6 km) from the Thai border, had 100 troops deployed inside. Karen resistance forces briefly seized the outpost in May 2022 before withdrawing in the face of a regime counteroffensive.
KNLA-led resistance forces seized control of the regime’s Bayintnaung outpost on May 29 and the Kanaelay outpost on May 28 — both located in Myawaddy — as well as the Baledo outpost in Kawkareik Township on May 23.
Kawkareik is located 26 miles (41 km) west of Myawaddy and 55 miles (88 km) east of Hpa-An. The Maela (Maw Kawelay), Pulutu, Khaleday, Takhawbikhi, Mawphathu outposts, as well as the Talel strategic outpost, have also been seized by the Karen resistance since March.
All six regime outposts are located in Hlaingbwe Township along the Thai border. Hlaingbwe is located 23 miles (37 km) north of Hpa-an and 75-101 miles (120-162 km) northwest of Kawkareik and Myawaddy.
The regime still controls its Ukarihta, Wawlay, Htithebalel, Htitapalaw, and Utarikhee outposts along the Thai border, according to BBC Burmese.
Myanmar shares a 1,501 mile (2,416 km) long border with Thailand, and Karen State is bordered by Thailand’s Tak, Kanchanaburi and Mae Hong Son provinces.
