Articles| Karen News
A male teacher, a female teacher, and a student were injured in the attack on the morning of September 3, but their injuries were not life-threatening, according to KNU sources and locals. Kawthoolei Basic Middle School 7082, a Karen school, was struck by a kamikaze drone carrying loitering munitions at around 9:00 am. “Witnesses said … The post Karen school in Paingkyon hit by kamikaze drone, 3 injured appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
Fierce fighting erupted around 11:00 pm on September 1 near Yankoke Village, just north of Kawkareik Town, and continued until noon the following day. Additional clashes were reported in the mountain range near Tawnaw Waterfall along AH1. “The junta’s been shelling resistance positions with howitzers and MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) batteries,” a resistance source … The post Junta offensive along Kawkareik–Myawaddy Road sparks intensified clashes appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
On the morning of August 28, approximately 40 military vehicles arrived at the headquarters of Infantry Battalion 97 (IB 97) in Kawkareik Town, while around 10 vehicles dispatched from Hpa-An, the capital of Karen State, reached the Military Operations Command 12 (MOC 12) near the town, according to a witness. “Early this morning, a long … The post Junta sends reinforcements to troops in Kawkareik appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
The MPM, the peace process monitoring program of BNI—a coalition of 15 ethnic media agencies—made the prediction during an online book launch on August 26 for ‘Deciphering Myanmar’s Peace Process: A Reference Guide (2024–2025)’. The junta announced that it will hold the election in phases, with the first round of voting scheduled for December 28 … The post Over 600 airstrikes in 2025, BNI-MPM predicts election may escalate conflict appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
According to a KNU official, the monastery was struck by the air raid around 10:30 am on August 24 while monks were preparing for lunch. “Around 10:30 this morning, a warplane struck the monastery in Chanmyaesu Village. Two monks were killed, and four others were injured. The injured have been taken to Kyaikto Township Hospital,” … The post Junta airstrike on Kyaikto Township monastery kills two monks appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
Analysts believe the junta closed the bridge to disrupt border trade and increase control over tax revenue from Thailand-Myanmar trade. However, border traders said the move is unlikely to achieve its intended goal, noting that even with the bridge closed, around 50 piers controlled by Karen EAOs along the Thaungyin (Moei) River, the natural border … The post Thai goods routed through Karen EAOs-controlled piers after junta closes border bridge appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
A report by FE 5 Tanintharyi, a local research group, found that junta airstrikes more than tripled in July, rising to 25 from just 8 in June. Aid workers said the rise in IDPs in Tanintharyi Region in July was driven not only by the surge in junta airstrikes but also by ground operations, arrests … The post Airstrikes in Tanintharyi spark surge in IDPs appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
In early August, before fuel deliveries from Myanmar’s mainland to Myawaddy were suspended, a liter of petrol cost around 3,500 MMK. By August 18, the price had surged to approximately 10,000 MMK per liter. “Petrol at fuel shops in Myawaddy, which once cost around 3,500 MMK per litre, now sells for up to 10,000 MMK …| Karen News
Since August 5, the trucks have been parked at a depot in Mae Sot, a Thai border town, awaiting permission to enter Myanmar, a trader said. “Entry of Thai goods through Friendship Bridge 2 has been suspended after senior military and civilian officials were arrested by the junta for allowing trucks to cross the Thanlwin … The post 500 trucks stranded at Thailand-Myanmar border as junta blocks imports appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
Trucks transporting goods from Myawaddy were repeatedly stopped and extorted by both junta checkpoints and various armed groups along the route, forcing operators to halt operations as the business became economically unviable. “These days, it costs about 10 million MMK to go from Myawaddy to Hpa-An City, whereas it used to be around 5 million … The post Trucks halt Myawaddy runs amid extortion-style levies appeared first on Karen News.| Karen News
August 12 will mark the 75th anniversary of Karen Martyrs’ Day, and an airstrike warning was issued in Brigade 7 territory ahead of the day. On August 10, a junta Y-12 utility aircraft bombed areas around the Brigade 7 headquarters between 7:47 pm and 8:00 pm, dropping 20 bombs in six bombing rounds. “The aircraft …| Karen News
With international humanitarian aid cutoff, food supplies to refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border have been suspended since early August. The financial support for health workers aims to restart stalled health services in these camps. The Tak Province Public Health Department, in collaboration with volunteer organizations and some hospitals, will provide 2,500 THB per month …| Karen News
In April, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied resistance groups seized control of the main highway between Kyondoe and Kawkareik towns. However, in the last week of July, the junta launched an offensive and regained control of that road section. During the clashes, many residents of Kyondoe Town took refuge as IDPs in …| Karen News
Articles| Karen News
On July 29, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing promulgated the ‘Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic Elections from Obstruction, Disruption and Destruction,’ comprising 8 chapters and 32 sections. The Independent Press Council Myanmar (IPCM), representing media agencies and journalists in Myanmar, abroad, and in ethnic regions, has criticized the junta’s laws and …| Karen News
The river water has flooded about nine central wards of Hpa-An City and about 20 nearby villages in Hpa-An Township leading to evacuations, according to local relief groups. Local aid groups and relevant departments of the junta administration have helped around 30,000 flood affected residents by establishing 22 temporary camps where people displaced by flooding …| Karen News
The arson attacks began on the 22nd of this month (July), according to a frontline news source who spoke to the Kantarawaddy Times. “Yes, there have been houses set on fire. They (the junta troops) have reached Phayarni. And they have been burning houses in and around Noe Koe,” said the source. Even though no …| Karen News
In early May 2025, following fighting with resistance forces to the east of the Sittaung River in Taungoo Township, the junta burned down several villages, including including Kyauklonegyi, Letpaekone, Saparkywei, and Tawpu, causing thousands of residents to flee and seek shelter in an IDP camp on the west side of the Sittaung River, just outside …| Karen News
The 21 July 2025 report by the Institute of Strategy and Policy – Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) estimated that, as of 15 July 2025, the KNU controls approximately 800 km (497 miles), or about a third, of the approximately 2,416 km (1,501 miles) long border with Thailand. The report said that since the February 2021 coup the …| Karen News
On 3 July 2025, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies launched an offensive against Wawlay TOC, which is in Myawaddy’s Township’s Wawlay Town, on the border with Thailand,. Since then residents of Wawlay Town and the surrounding areas have been fleeing across the Wa Le River into Thailand. Currently about 1,000 of …| Karen News
Articles| Karen News
Articles| Karen News
The KWO has evolved into a powerful force for change, with its membership now exceeding 70,000 women. In 2023 alone, more than 140,582 women, men, and children were counted as direct beneficiaries of their programs. Operating across seven Karen National Union (KNU) Districts inside Burma and seven refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, the organization …| Karen News
Since the beginning of April 2025, junta-appointed administrative officials from Hpa-An City’s Ward 4 have been demanding that young women pay 5,000 MMK and young men pay 30,000 MMK to a ‘conscription fund’ to ensure they will not be conscripted. A young woman from Hpa-An’s Ward 4 said to KIC: “Four ward administration officials came …| Karen News
On 16 April, the final day of the traditional Myanmar Thingyan Water Festival that celebrates the beginning of the new year from 13 to 16 April, junta airstrikes hit seven villages in Kawakareik Township, Karen State. On the morning of 16 April airstrikes hit the Kawkareik Township villages of Laytaing, Inngyi and Tharyakone. No casualties …| Karen News
On 7 April 2025, the KNU and junta troops fought in Mawdaung Town, which is on the border with Thailand. After the fighting had subsided in the town a junta drone dropped the suspected chemical weapon onto KNU soldiers in Theinkhun Village on the outskirts of Mawdaung Town, according to Padoh Saw Eh Nar, the …| Karen News
In mid-March 2025, around 900 junta troops, in three columns, entered and stationed themselves in Yebyu Town to the east of the Dawei SEZ project and Launglon Town to the south of the SEZ. Comrade Shadow, a spokesperson for Launglon Township People’s Defence Force (Launglon PDF) said: “The junta sent about 900 troops to the …| Karen News
Naw Say War, a 58-year-old teacher, set up the school six years ago after she first went to Kyu Kho Village and saw that there was no school there. Seven years ago, whilst travelling through Hpapun District, an area mainly controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), Naw Say War came across Kyu Kho, a …| Karen News
The junta’s battalion headquarters in Kawkareik Township, mobile artillery battalions and drones have been shelling the villages since 2 April, the day the junta’s claimed ceasefire began, according to an officer of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) who spoke to KIC. He said: “The junta has been bombarding villages north and south of Kawkareik …| Karen News
Palaw Township is an area mainly under control of the Karen National Union (KNU), which carries out healthcare in the area. According to a woman working for the KNU’s Kawthoolei Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) who spoke to KIC, a 30-year-old woman and an infant died in Palaw District after malaria spread to their …| Karen News
Though the 7.7-magnitude earthquake had its epicentre under Sagaing City about 228 miles (367 km) to the north of Taungoo Town it still caused a lot of damage in the town. According to collated data, as of 3 April, the earthquake had killed 17 people, including six children, and destroyed approximately 100 houses in Taungoo …| Karen News
Thailand set up refugee camps for them on the border with Myanmar. Now there are nine refugee camps along the border in Thailand: Mae La, Umpiem Mai, Nupo, Mae Ra Ma Luang, Mae La Oon, Tham Hin, Ban Don Yang, and Karenni Refugee Camps 1 and 2. The largest of those camps, Mae La, across …| Karen News
On 11 April 2024, the junta launched its Operation Aung Zeya to take back control of AH1, between Myawaddy Town on the border with Thailand and Kawkareik Town, from a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) led resistance coalition. But after suffering many casualties and captured soldiers the junta decided to abandon Operation Aung Zeya at …| Karen News
District health officer Padoh Naw El Sel Toe said to KIC: “There is currently a shortage of antimalarial drugs and medical equipment in Myeik and Dawei districts. Since USAID funding ended, the supply of antimalarial drugs has been cut off. The situation is challenging, and we are exploring alternative solutions. She explained that in Myeik …| Karen News
The junta-run township general administration office issued summonses on 5 March for young men of conscription age in Hlaingbwe Township to come and fill out registration forms. The summonses were sent to their homes and clearly included the recipient’s name, parents’ names, National Identity Card (NIC) number, and home address. Despite the administration claiming that …| Karen News
The call was made in a statement issued by the junta-aligned Karen BGF on 1 March 2025. It claimed that Thailand’s cutting of electricity and fuel supplies has hindered efforts to rescue foreign workers from telecom scam compounds in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, whilst also causing severe humanitarian hardships that have significantly disrupted the daily …| Karen News
The burnings happened during ongoing fighting in Kawkareik Township. The junta started attacking the villages after Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)-led resistance forces encircled and launched an attack on junta troops stationed at the Shwe Kyet Min monastery compound near Tatanku Village on the outskirts of Kawkareik Town, also on 3 March. A resistance source …| Karen News
Several US Government and USAID backed organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing education, healthcare, and aid to Myanmar refugees sheltering in the areas of Thailand bordering Myanmar have been forced to suspend operations due to Trump’s order to pause aid funding. A staff member of an NGO based in Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak Province …| Karen News
It also called for the perpetrators of such acts to be held accountable. Nan Paw Gay, the chairperson of the IPCM and Chief Editor of KIC said: “The primary perpetrators are aligned with the junta, and they have carried out arbitrary arrests, imprisonments, torture, and killings targeting journalists during the ongoing conflict. We demand they …| Karen News
The NUG statement said that “the Myanmar military, along with its Border Guard Forces, militias and its allies, is directly involved in providing security for and facilitating” cyber-scam centres and even “actively partnering with the criminals involved.” It said: “We are determined to prevent Myanmar from becoming the epicenter of cyber and other crimes that …| Karen News
They have been confiscating aid meant for IDPs in southern Shan State under various pretexts, such as claiming they are collecting taxes. They have also been claiming that fees have to be paid to allow the aid through and pressuring the aid organisations to let them distribute the aid, according to the chairman of the …| Karen News
According to research by the Blood Money Campaign – Action Network (BMC), markets, donation events, festivals, and religious ceremonies, which are often crowded with people, as well as healthcare facilities and even schools, are intentionally targeted by the junta’s airstrikes. From early 2021 to November 2024, the junta carried out approximately 4,020 airstrikes nationwide, resulting …| Karen News
Violent clashes outside Kawkareik Town that started on 1 December 2023 have forced nearly all of the town’s inhabitants to flee. By October 2024 most of the town’s inhabitants had fled. Many of them are still unable to return and whilst they are away their homes are being broken into by junta soldiers and civilians …| Karen News
Paung Village is in Hpa-An District, an area mainly controlled by Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 7. Significant amounts of rock dust have polluted nearby lakes and wells used for drinking water. Many children consuming the contaminated water have suffered from allergies, diarrhoea, skin rashes, and respiratory diseases, according to a KNU village healthcare department …| Karen News
