Myanmar rebels say recapture HQ after almost 30 years

Karen National Union fighters recapture Manerplaw from Myanmar military after 30 years, amid ongoing conflict and displacement in Myanmar.

A Myanmar ethnic rebel group said on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) it had recaptured its headquarters from the Myanmar military, almost 30 years after it was forced out.

Karen National Union (KNU) fighters had seized Manerplaw on the Thai border following days of fighting, KNU leader Saw Thamain Tun said.

Myanmar junta troops "still want to take it back and they used drones and tried to bomb our troops," he said.

"But, our troops took the base already," he said.

For years Manerplaw was the headquarters of the KNU's decades-long armed struggle for rights for the Karen minority and home to other dissident politicians opposing Myanmar's then-junta.

Following a split within the Christian-majority KNU, the junta and a breakaway Buddhist faction captured the base in 1995, sending thousands fleeing into Thailand.

After the fall of Manerplaw, the junta renamed the area Kayin state and put the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization, an allied armed group, in charge of it.