The junta has launched a major ground offensive in Hpapun Township, Karen State, where the Karen National Union has seized control of nearly the entire area, said a KNU officer.

The junta’s ground offensive is ongoing in Mutraw (Hpapun) Township, the territory of KNU Brigade 5, with junta aircraft air-dropping supplies to troops participating in the operation, according to Brigade 5 spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Saw Kler Doh.

The junta’s objectives for the operation are to recapture territories it lost in Hpapun Township and to prevent the fall of its Tactical Operations Command (TOC) base there, he noted.

By the end of October, the KNU had already seized around 80 supply packages airdropped by the junta, Lieutenant Colonel Saw Kler Doh told KIC.

“This time, we seized nearly 80 packages from the airdrop. We’re not sure if the junta aircraft dropped any ammunition, but the items we recovered included food and equipment. We’ve also intercepted airdropped packages from the junta before. They usually contain rice, fish paste, and canned food. Occasionally, we’ve found weapons and liquor bottles among them,” he said.

The junta is currently making a desperate attempt to retake its former base in Kataingti Village, about 20 miles from Kamarmaung Town in Hpapun Township. However, resistance forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, are fiercely blocking the junta’s advance from all directions.

As a result, junta columns have been stalled for about a month and have been unable to advance beyond Wardu Village, located around 14 miles south of Kataingti, according to resistance frontline sources.

In the third week of September, fierce clashes erupted when the KNLA-led coalition attacked junta troops trying to advance from Wardu Village, north of Kamarmaung Town, toward their former base in Kataingti.

The junta-aligned Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion 1014 is also operating within two miles of Wardu Village, which the junta is using as a temporary frontline command. There were also reports that BGF troops have been accompanying the junta columns during their movements.

Currently, the villages along the Hpapun-Kamarmaung Road are deserted, as locals have been displaced by the fighting and have not yet dared to return to their homes.

“There are very few people left in Hpapun Town. Folks from the villages along the road have also fled. Villages like Khwaythay, Mahtaw, Whaytshan, and Hwayhmon are all deserted. Only a few villages near Kamarmaung Town still have people, but most of the locals there have already evacuated to Kamarmaung,” said a local familiar with the current conflict situation.

The junta has been conducting not only ground offensives and intensified airdrop missions but also airstrikes in certain areas, to reclaim camps, bases, and territories lost to the resistance coalition, according to frontline resistance sources.