Following the Karen resistance forces’ capture of the junta’s Khawpoke military base in Hpapun Township, Karen State, the junta launched a retaliatory airstrike on nearby villages on 30 October 2024.

The Khawpoke military base fell on 29 October following a prolonged six month long siege by Karen resistance forces led by the Karen National Union’s (KNU’s) armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

The junta troops abandoned the base and fled and when the KNLA troops entered the base they seized a large cache of weapons and ammunition.

The day after the base fell, 30 October, a junta fighter jet dropped bombs on villages in Hteegawtar Village Tract in Hpapun Township near to the base.

According to the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN), a Karen civil society network, four houses and a school were destroyed in the airstrike.

Colonel Saw Kler Doh, the spokesperson for KNU/KNLA Brigade 5, confirmed that the junta conducted an air raid, saying that while some buildings were damaged no casualties were reported.

The Khawpoke military base is in the KNU District of Mutraw, which roughly corresponds to the Myanmar authorities Hpapun District. Mutraw District is mainly controlled by KNU/KNLA Brigade 5.

The base is about 16 km south of Hpapun Town which has been under the control of Brigade 5 since February. Following the town's capture resistance forces encircled and blockaded Khawpoke military base and the other remaining junta fortifications south of the Hpapun Town.

Junta troops who fled from military camps and outposts along the border with Thailand had regrouped at  Khawpoke military base meaning that there were about 120 soldiers stationed there when the base fell.

During October 2024, airstrikes on the KNU Brigade 5 area of Mutraw District killed three civilians, including a child and injured another civilian.