WEB DESK
Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base today near the border with Thailand.
A morale-boosting action for those opposing the military’s takeover of the country’s civilian government in February.
Myanmar’s military staged airstrikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces, said a guerrilla spokesman.
Casualty figures were not yet known, the KNU’s head of foreign affairs said in a text message. There was no immediate comment from Myanmar’s military government.
The KNU, which controls territory in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border, is a close ally of the resistance movement against the military takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Its armed wing is called the Karen National Liberation Army.
There is a similar situation in northern Myanmar, where the Kachin minority claims to have captured several government outposts and been the target of air attacks.
The Karen and the Kachin are two of the bigger minority groups that have been seeking greater autonomy for decades, during which there have been periods of armed conflict punctuated by ceasefires.