Pro-Junta Kawthoolei Army Ambushes KNLA Battalion 12 — 4 Karen Soldiers and 1 Child Killed in Karen State

In the early morning hours of April 22, 2026 (approximately 04:00), fighters belonging to the Kawthoolei Army (KTLA) — a pro-junta Karen splinter militia operating under loose SAC coordination in Karen State — ambushed soldiers from Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Battalion 12 at Thamee Paw Thaw village in Kasay Doh (Ka Say Daw) Township, Karen State. The attack was led by an individual identified as Saw Eh Kwee (also known as Kolar Pho). Four KNLA Battalion 12 soldiers were killed in the ambush; additionally, a 10-year-old child was killed in the crossfire or in a related attack — bringing the total death toll to five. The Karen National Union's Myeik-Dawei District condemned the attack. The incident highlights the complex intra-Karen dimension of the Myanmar civil war: while the KNU/KNLA is the principal Karen armed organization fighting the junta as part of the SCEF resistance coalition, the SAC has cultivated and armed several smaller Karen splinter groups — including the Kawthoolei Army and Border Guard Force (BGF) units — as proxies to attack KNU positions and erode Karen resistance cohesion from within. These pro-junta Karen forces operate primarily in border townships close to Thailand, where they can exploit the geographic complexity of the Salween River corridor. The KTLA's attack on KNLA soldiers comes just two days after SAC jets struck a KNU hospital in Bue So and dropped a bomb into Thailand — part of a sustained multi-vector SAC campaign against KNU-administered Kawthoolei.