DKBA landmine injures 10

Monday, 17 January 2011 14:07 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A landmine planted by Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops injured five Burmese Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers and five civilians near Myawaddy on Friday.

DKBA troops detonated the mine while BGF Battalion No. 1022 second-in-command Bo Cameraman was traveling in a truck on the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway between positions taken up by the junta’s infantry Battalions 355 and 356 near Thingannyinaung village in Myawaddy Township in Karen State, according to DKBA Major Saw San Aung, head of the Kolohtupaw Strategic Command.

BGF troops and eyewitnesses said that Bo Cameraman, his wife, four BGF troops and four passengers were injured in the blast.

“No one was killed, but they received shrapnel and splinter injuries in their legs, hands and shoulders”, a BGF force member told Mizzima.

All of the wounded were treated at Myawaddy hospital. The blast created chaos among nearby junta troops who opened fire into the woods, eyewitnesses said. Whoever detonated the mine escaped.

Major Saw San Aung said that his troops attacked the BGF vehicle because the junta is reinforcing its troops and supplies in collaboration with the BGF in Myawaddy Township.

“The enemy is invading our area with heavy manpower so we showed them we could hit them in their back at any time”, he told Mizzima.

“Our intention is to show them that we can do what we want at any time in the towns. If we didn’t care about civilian casualties, we could do bigger assaults in either the daytime or nighttime. We refrain from doing because we don’t want to see civilians become cannon fodder”, said Major Saw San Aung.

Junta troops closed the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway after the blast, but it again opens on Monday afternoon.

In a similar ambush, a tripwire mine planted by the DKBA on the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway injured at least eight people on January 7.

The Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway is controlled by the BGF and is a major import route for cars, motorcycles, electrical appliances, foodstuffs and textiles from Thailand into Burma.

When the DKBA converted their army into the regime’s BGF, a small faction refused to accept the junta’s offer and reunited with the KNU to take up arms against the regime.

The DKBA-KNU and junta forces have been fighting each other since November 8 in Myawaddy and Kawkereik townships.