Fighting erupted for the second time this month between the Burma Army and an allied force of ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State this week, according to an officer of one rebel group.

Tar Kyan Hein of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the Burma Army Light Infantry Divisions 11 and 99 invaded rebel territories of Loi Kang village in Tarmoenye, a sub-township of Kutkhai, where a similar incident in early October reportedly left 17 government soldiers dead after they tried to advance on TNLA territory.

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Karen National Liberation Army soldiers stationed at an outpost near the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

The commanders of units of different Karen rebel groups in southeastern Burma announced on Tuesday that they will begin military cooperation in order to deal with an increase in Burma Army operations in their areas in recent months.

Gen. Saw Lah Pwe, the head of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and Gen. Baw Kyaw Heh, deputy commander-in-chief of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), who has support of KNLA brigades 2 and 5, agreed to work together. They are joined by two smaller rebel groups, the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO) of Col. Nerdah Mya and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council of Col. Tiger.

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Taliban insurgents ambushed a convoy of Afghan security forces in northern Afghanistan on Monday. Twenty-two soldiers and police men were killed, an official reported.

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Snipers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) practice together on a firing range (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Heavy fighting between the Burma Army and an ethnic Karen rebel group broke out in Kawkareik and Hlaingbwe townships in Karen State on Friday, forcing dozens of villagers to flee their homes.

The fighting between government soldiers and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) also forced the closure of a road linking Burma’s commercial capital Rangoon to the border town of Myawaddy.

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Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged heavy gunfire overnight Tuesday, after days of fighting that has left at least 17 civilians dead and dozens wounded on both sides of the Kashmiri frontier.

Each country blames the other for violating a longstanding cease-fire, and neither has begun a meeting of commanders at the border, the traditional mechanism for de-escalating such standoffs.

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