In Hlaingbwe Township, Hpa-An District of Karen State, junta airstrikes targeted the Oodaung and Thaiktaw military camps of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), killing one person and injuring three civilians and three BGF members.

On January 12, around 3:00 p.m., junta aircraft dropped two bombs in an initial strike, followed by two more bombs about an hour later, according to an unnamed source from Karen National Union Brigade 7 who spoke to KIC.

The source added that the junta launched two follow-up strikes using loitering ammunition (kamikaze drones) in addition to the airstrikes.

“Junta aircraft dropped a total of four bombs in two rounds. Four BGF members and three civilians were injured, and one of the BGF fighters later died,” he said.

According to the KNU's boundary definition, the BGF camps that were bombed were in Hlaingbwe Township, Brigade 7 territory. However, the Myanmar government places them in Hpa-An Township.

Both camps are located along the banks of the Thanlwin (Salween) River, between areas controlled by KNU Brigades 1 and 7. Civilians were injured while crossing the river by ferry during the junta’s airstrike.

“Before the airstrikes, artillery was fired from the Artillery Battalion in Taungkalay Village, Hpa-An Township, and the blasts were so loud that you could even hear them from Hpa-An City,” a local said.

Although the junta carried out airstrikes last year in Brigade 7 territory near the Thai border, they targeted only KNU positions. This marks the first attack on BGF camps.

The BGF has long been a junta-aligned Karen armed group, but some of its factions recently declared that they no longer wished to follow the junta’s command. On January 1, they changed their emblem to that of the Karen National Army (KNA). The camps hit by the recent airstrikes are in the territory of the BGF’s Military Region 2 command, which also adopted the KNA emblem.

KIC contacted Brigadier General Saw Tin Win, the BGF commander in the area, for comment, but he said he was too busy to respond.