DKBA faction could commence guerilla war in ‘every township’

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’s (DKBA) battalion 902 commander Colonel Kyaw Thet in Hpalu village, where fighting recently broke out with the government, said the group will commence guerrilla warfare in “every township” if the SPDC continues its offensive against the renegade DKBA faction.

“If they won’t be considerate on us, we will commence guerrilla warfare. We have deployed our units already and we would have to proceed… in every township across Burma,” said Colonel Kyaw Thet.

“We are using the [Burmese Army’s] break from the fighting as an opportunity to reorganise our forces and restock ammunition. We have already prepared ourselves for defence.”

He said more fighting is likely in other ethnic regions due to a growing impatience with the government and that victory can be achieved if all ethnic armies coordinate and fight against the Burmese Army.

There has seemingly been repeated attempts to unite disaffected ethnic armies and rebel groups, with the All Burma Students Democrtaic Front (ABSDF) recentlytelling DVB that they will join with their Karen counterparts.

While there has been no fighting in Hpalu this week, at least four battles broke out between the DKBA and the Burmese army in Kyarinseikgyi, Kawkareit and Hpapun townships.

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A battalion of regular troops from the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) launched a short attack on Burmese army in Manerplaw

A battalion of regular troops from the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) on Dec. 11 launched a short attack on the Burmese army in Manerplaw, and have remained active in the area. Manerplaw was the headquarters of the KNU from 1948 until it fell into Burmese army hands in 1995.

Located in Hlaingbwe Township in Karen State at a picturesque juncture on the Moei River, which seperates Thailand and Burma, Manerplaw was the KNU’s most strategic base during the reign of Gen Bo Mya, the former chairman of the KNU. Its fall into enemy hands—primarily due to the notorious betrayal of the KNU by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)—marked a turn in the decades-old civil conflict which resulted in several ethnic armies signing cease-fire agreements with the military regime, while members of the KNU were forced to flee to refugee camps in Thailand or to small guerilla bases in remote parts of Karen State.

After the Fall of Manerplaw in 1995, the KNU was unable to launch major offensives against government forces around that area, and it became a Burmese army stronghold and an ideal base to coordinate cross-border trade, especially logging.

KNU sources said that Battalion 202 from Brigade 7 of the KNU’s military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and some members of a Karen specialist unit known as the “Special Force” were involved in a skirmish with government forces involving gunfire and mortar attacks.