Other Ethnic Militias May Join Battle

Additional battles may flare-up in and around Myawaddy and the Three Pagodas Pass area because other armed ethnic groups may come to assist the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5, led by Col Saw Lah Pwe, according to a military observer.

DKBA Brigade 5 took control of government buildings in the border town of Myawaddy on Sunday, then attacked government troops and burned government buildings in Three Pagodas Pass on Monday.

Since Monday morning, DKBA Brigade 5 troops have been engaged in armed conflict with Burmese government troops and, in the case of Myawaddy, DKBA Brigade 999 troops who have joined the junta's border guard force (BGF).
Burma's state-run television is now describing the DKBA Brigade 5 faction as “insurgents” belonging to the Karen National Union (KNU), the only non-ceasefire armed Karen rebel group.

“If the military government continues their attack, we cannot avoid fighting. We will cooperate and fight together,” said Maj Saw Hla Ngwe, the KNU's Joint-Secretary 1. “We didn’t divide territory by ethnic group within this area. Every group is working based on an understanding [we have with each other]. So we have to prepare for war.”

Government troops retook major areas of Myawaddy on Monday afternoon and the town is currently quiet. But fighting has continued in the Three Pagodas Pass area and junta troops also seized and burnt down the DKBA Brigade 5 headquarters based on a Burmese hill located opposite Thailand's Amphoe Phop Phra, Tak Province, and forced the ethnic militia to abandon its base.

Fighting is expected to increase if junta troops continue to attack DKBA Brigade 5 in the Three Pagodas Pass area because, in addition to the KNU, the Karen Peace Force, led by Col Thu Mu Heh, and the New Mon State Party armed ethnic group are both based in the area and may join in the fight.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Nataphon Wichienprerd, governor of Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, said casualties in the fighting at Three Pagodas Pass included a 9-year-old Burmese girl shot by government soldiers who died in a Thai hospital, and a 13-year-old Burmese girl shot by Karen guerrillas who died on the spot.

Nataphon said about 3,500 refugees sheltered on Thai territory Tuesday night, with assistance provided by Thai and international organizations including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In addition, villagers who live near the Brigade 5 headquarters fled across the border to Thailand seeking temporary security when the headquarters were attacked.

Although most DKBA troops agreed to join the BGF earlier this year, Brigade 5 rejected the plan. Observers said the regime is now using propaganda to mislead people into believing that all DKBA troops have accepted the BGF plan.

irrawaddy