Myanmar Junta Recaptures Asian Highway to Thai Border

The military regime has regained control of a strategic portion of Asian Highway 1 that leads from the Thai border to the heart of Myanmar.

Regime forces launched a massive operation at the end of last month that succeeded this week in seizing the road section between Kawkareik and Thingannyinaung, the last town before Myawaddy on the border, from the resistance Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

A Karen resistance source told The Irrawaddy, “Regime troops retreated where we clashed head-on, but other military columns advancing from the flanks broke through. Now we’ve abandoned Thingannyinaung and effectively the whole Asian Highway.”