The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), announced on June 26 that locals in Kyaikto Township, Mon State, should be careful not to travel too close to military convoys.

Residents are urged to travel between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., and avoid approaching the Myanmar military’s convoys, a KNLA official said.

“We are working hard to restrict the movement of the Myanmar military and to gain control of the area. We are concerned that there will be undesirable risks for local people because there have been landmine attacks and clashes between junta troops and anti-regime groups near Kyaikto,” the KNLA official added.

The KNLA said that if people had to travel after 8 p.m. due to an emergency medical situation, they would ask ambulances to turn on their lights and sirens.

As a result of the KNLA’s warning, junta soldiers and police have been deployed along the Kyaikto-Theinzayat road, and security checks have been tightened, said a resident of Theinzayat town.

“I saw police and junta soldiers along the Kyaikto-Theinzayat road. All vehicles and motorbikes are intercepted by junta soldiers and police for security checks. The junta troops have been deployed in Ingabo village in Kyaikto Township,” the Theinzayat resident added.

Dozens of junta soldiers have been patrolling the entrances to Kyaikto, as well as a road leading to Kyaiktiyo Pagoda and in Taungshay village, according to Kyaikto residents.

“Following the KNLA’s warning, junta soldiers in military trucks patrol the streets in Kyaikto,” said one such resident. “Security personnel in civilian clothes are seen along the road to Bilin and Kyaiktiyo Pagoda. More than 100 junta soldiers have been deployed in some villages near Kyaiktiyo Pagoda.”

There have been more than 50 clashes between the Myanmar military and a coalition led by the KNLA in Kyaikto Township, an area controlled by KNLA Brigade 1, from the second week of April through the last week of June.