Aid workers in Mon State’s Kyaikmaraw Township told DVB that six passengers in a vehicle were killed and six others were injured when an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or drone, struck it at a checkpoint controlled by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on Sept. 2.
“Resistance members tried to stop vehicles when they spotted a drone in the sky. But this car [didn’t stop],” an aid worker with knowledge of the incident told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
The KNLA checkpoint is along the road connecting Kyaikmaraw to Kyainseikgyi Township in Karen State. Kyaikmaraw is located 11 miles (17 km) south of the Mon State capital Mawlamyine and 41 miles (65 km) south of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.
Regime media reported on Sept. 4 that 11 civilians were injured – but none were killed – during a drone attack carried out by the KNLA on its own checkpoint.
A resident of Kopanaw village, located near the KNLA checkpoint, told DVB that the KNLA was not responsible for the drone attack. DVB contacted Saw Neh Da Htoo, the Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 6 tactical commander, but he declined to comment.
Independent media reported, citing residents, that the regime’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 208 and 81 based in Kyaikmaraw’s Zartapyin village, as well as troops stationed near a monastery in Dhammasa village, have been firing mortar shells indiscriminately into nearby villages as of July.
The regime reportedly dropped 30 bombs with drones on the same KNLA checkpoint on July 4, 2024, but no casualties were reported by the KNU.
Local media reported that KNLA-led resistance forces attacked regime outposts in Kyaikmaraw’s Chaunghnitkhwa village and security posts at Attaran Bridge, which lie in the Karen National Union (KNU) Win Ye Township, Dooplaya District, on Nov. 10, 2023. Regime forces reclaimed the outposts on Dec. 29, 2023.
