Myanmar army base is set ablaze by guerrilla fighters in biggest blow yet to military junta – who respond with air strikes against villagers

• Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they had captured base near border with Thailand
• Video shows flames rising from the government position and people fleeing
• The ruling military junta responded by carrying out air strikes on Karen villages
• Hundreds evacuated from a nearby village on the Thai side of the border
• Unrest comes as protests continue against the military government, known as the Tatmadaw, which seized power in a coup on February 1 

By AP and AFP and CHARLOTTE MITCHELL FOR MAILONLINE-27 April 2021

Guerrilla fighters in Myanmar have set a military base alight in a blow to the ruling military junta.

Ethnic Karen guerrillas said on Tuesday that they had captured the base near the border with Thailand.

The move is a morale boost for those opposing the military's takeover of the country's civilian government in a coup in February.

Video shot from the Thai side of the border showed flames rising from the government position on the banks of the Salween River, amid the sound of heavy gunfire. 

The river marks the border with Thailand, where hundreds have been evacuated from a nearby village for their own safety, a Thai official said.

The military, known as the Tatmadaw, responded with force several hours later by carrying out air strikes on villages in the territory controlled by Karen forces, according to a guerrilla spokesman, a senior Thai official and a relief worker. 

Ethnic Karen guerrillas claim to have captured Myanmar army base

 

The military junta said on Tuesday that it would heed regional pleas to stop violence only when the country 'returns to stability'.

The nation has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 1 coup, triggering a protest movement that security forces have met with deadly crackdowns.

The violence - in which more than 750 people have been killed by security forces, according to a local monitoring group - has raised alarm among regional neighbours and drawn criticism from the international community.

A spokesman for the Karen National Union, the minority's main political group seeking greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government, said its armed wing had attacked the base and burned it down just after dawn.

Casualty figures are not yet known, KNU head of foreign affairs Padoh Saw Taw Nee told the Associated Press.

A KNU handout photo shows guerrilla fighters inspecting rifles and weapons seized from Myanmar's troops after a clash on Tuesday

A KNU handout photo shows Myanmar's military helmets and weapons seized by the guerrillas following a clash on Tuesday

The KNU, which controls territory in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border, is a close ally of the resistance movement against the February coup. Its armed wing is called the Karen National Liberation Army. 

A report by the Karen Information Centre quoted an unnamed villager on the Thai side of the border saying he saw seven government soldiers trying to flee the camp, which is opposite Thailand's Mae Sam Laep village.

Padoh Man Man of the KNLA's 5th Brigade, which launched this morning's attack, said Myanmar's military carried out airstrikes in the early afternoon, but he did not know how many casualties there were.

He described the air raids as a 'heinous war crime' and called for the international community to pressure the junta to stop the,.

Sithichai Jindaluang, governor of Thailand's Mae Hong Son province, confirmed at a news conference that Karen guerrillas had overrun the Myanmar base.

He said a stateless woman on Thai soil had been shot in the leg by a stray bullet during the fighting and that she was treated in hospital and is now in a stable condition. 

Ethnic Karen guerrillas said that they had captured the base near the border with Thailand on Tuesday. Pictured: Myanmar soldiers are seen at the base on March 30 [File photo]