Regime forces have carried out artillery and drone strikes on villages along the stretch of the Asia Highway in Kawkareik Township of Karen State as its Aung Zeya column resumes its counteroffensive against the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) this month, according to a source on the frontline. 

“We’re pushing back the column,” the source told DVB on condition of anonymity. He added that the Karen National Union (KNU), the KNLA political wing, is leading the operation and sharing details has been restricted. Kawkareik is located 55 miles (88 km) southeast of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.

The Aung Zeya column launched its counteroffensive to regain control of the road into Myawaddy last April after the vital Myanmar-Thailand border town was seized for 12 days by the KNLA. Myawaddy is located 80 miles (128 km) east of Hpa-An.

Myawaddy was handed back to regime forces on April 23 by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), a pro-regime militia, which operates along the border. Fighting in Myawaddy has displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, an aid worker along the border told DVB.

“Even if the fighting is over, many of the displaced people don’t have a home to go back to since several homes were [destroyed by regime forces],” he added.

KNU central committee member Padoh Saw Thamein Tun told DVB that KNLA-led resistance forces seized the regime’s Khaleda outpost in Hlaingbwe Township of Karen State, located one mile from the border, on Tuesday after four days of intense fighting. 

Hlaingbwe is located 23 miles (37 km) northeast of Hpa-An and next to Thailand’s Tak Province. Retaliatory airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar Air Force drove over 150 Hlaingbwe residents across the border to seek refuge in Tha Song Yan District on Sunday.