Sources on the frontline in Karen State told DVB that the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), along with its allied People’s Defence Force (PDF), seized the regime’s Ukarihta outpost in southern Myawaddy Township on Saturday. The outpost is nicknamed the “Living Fence” after a 2024 pro-military propaganda film.
“Around 90 regime troops fled across the border into Thailand,” a KNLA commander told DVB on the condition of anonymity. He added that Karen resistance forces took one regime troop prisoner and recovered the body of another. Myawaddy is located 81 miles (130 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.
Thai media reported on Saturday that the Thai army disarmed and detained the regime troops. It provided the Myanmar soldiers with humanitarian assistance, along with the 467 Myawaddy residents who fled Karen State across the border into Thailand’s Tak Province.
A source told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the Myanmar Air Force have carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Karen resistance forces along the Myanmar-Thailand since fighting began on July 3.
The regime forces reportedly abandoned the Ukarihta outpost as they “could not withstand” the resistance’s use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or drones.
Military analysts told DVB that regime forces at the Wawlay outpost, which is located nine miles (14 km) northeast of Ukarihta, will abandon the outpost “soon” due to the KNLA-led offensive.
The regime’s Ukarihta outpost was a key logistics hub supplying rations and ammunition to the Wawlay outpost, according to media reports. Wawlay and Htithellel outposts remain under regime control along the Myanmar-Thailand border.
The KNLA launched an offensive against the Ukarihta outpost in June 2022 without success. This historical event was retold in the Burmese language pro-military film “Living Fence,” released in March 2024.
Around 3,000 residents from Ukarihta and Wawlay Myaing villages have taken refuge in neighbouring Thailand since July 3, according to the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO).
