One person was killed and three others injured after junta troops opened fire on a civilian vehicle on a highway south of Myawaddy Town in Karen State.

At around 1:00 pm on October 17, junta troops opened fire on a vehicle traveling along the Paheikalaw–Lay Kay Kaw Road, which leads to Lay Kay Kaw Town in Myawaddy Township, a hotspot of conflict between the junta and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)-led resistance forces.

According to local resistance sources, regime soldiers seized three wounded people after firing on the car en route to Falu Village.

“Fighting had been happening in Lay Kay Kaw and the nearby villages of Minlatpan and Inngyinmyaing since early that morning. The car, which belongs to Ko Kaung Htet, who runs a phone shop in Kyauk Khet Village, was traveling along the road when junta troops opened fire with light machine guns. The driver was killed, and three passengers were wounded and taken into custody,” a resistance source told KIC.

On the morning of October 17, during clashes near Inngyinmyaing Village, a woman sand miner and her male companion were killed by indiscriminate gunfire from junta troops stationed in the area.

“The fighting is really intense. Both the junta and its ally, the Border Guard Force (BGF), are attacking multiple areas, including Minlatpan, Lay Kay Kaw, and Kyaukgu. Infantry Battalion 275 (IB 275), the garrison unit in Myawaddy Town, has also been firing artillery. The junta’s indiscriminate shooting has even hit some houses on the Thai side of the border, though thankfully no casualties have been reported,” a displaced Minlatpan villager said.

As of October 18, intense clashes continued in Lay Kay Kaw, Inngyinmyaing, and Minlatpan, locals reported.