KNLA Capture Burma Army Soldiers In Mutraw
By Network Media Group
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Twenty-seven Burma Army (BA) soldiers, including a deputy battalion commander and a lieutenant, were captured alive after Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 5 ambushed a IB-97 column in Mutraw (Hpapun) District, Karen State.
In the ambush last Friday, KNLA soldiers killed at least 3 BA soldiers, including 2 sergeants, and wounded 11, including 2 captains and the lieutenant. The Karen fighters seized weapons, ammunition, military equipment and money from the column that was travelling from Mae Paw Htar in Dwelo Township.
The KNLA’s political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU), posted photos of the arrested BA soldiers on the KNU-Mutraw News Facebook page, as well as two RPG-7s, two sniper rifles, six MA-2 rifles, eight MA-1 rifles, six MA-3 rifles, cell phones and more than $1,700 seized from the enemy after the clash.
According to the KNU report, no KNLA soldiers were killed in the fighting between 11:30am and 5pm on 11 March. But four civilians were injured after the junta shelled a village during the violence.
At least seven villagers, including two children and two elderly people, were killed by regime shelling in Mutraw District on 5 March, according to the KNU.
In February, the KNU said BA soldiers, backed by a Border Guard Force, have fired over 400 shells at villages and fighter jets have twice attacked Brigade 5. The same month, KNLA and Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) fought 298 times against regime troops in Thaton, Nyaung Lay Pin, Dawei, Mutraw and Dupalyar districts. Six resistance fighters were killed and 23 wounded. KNLA and KNDO destroyed 35 regime military vehicles.
According to volunteers helping displaced villagers, more than 70,000 people fled the clashes, last month.
