Armed conflict broke out Wednesday between Myanmar’s military and a joint force of anti-junta fighters in territory controlled by the Karen ethnic group a day after government troops conducted several raids in the area, detaining more than 20 political activists who had taken refuge there, residents said.
According to residents, the military engaged with a combined group of prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) militiamen and fighters with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) — the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) political group — firing artillery from a nearby hill at locations in Kayin state’s Lay Kay Kaw New Town’s No. 6 Ward, Rathe Gu village and Lay Kay Kaw Waterfall.