The Karen National Liberation Army are the armed wing of the Karen National Union. They have been fighting for the freedom of Karen State and the ethnic Karen people inside Burma for 60 years in what is the worlds longest running armed conflict. Numbering around 4000 their enemy is the ruling Burmese military known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and militias allied to the...
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The Karen National Liberation Army are the armed wing of the Karen National Union. They have been fighting for the freedom of Karen State and the ethnic Karen people inside Burma for 60 years in what is the worlds longest running armed conflict. Numbering around 4000 their enemy is the ruling Burmese military known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and militias allied to the regime. Since Burma gained independence from the British in 1948 ethnic minorities such as the Karen have been brutally oppressed sending thousands of refugees across the border into Thailand. Villages are routinely razed to the ground, people are used for forced labour and often tortured and killed. The KNLA are pushed right up against the border with neighbouring Thailand and their base camps come under regular attacks forcing them to flee into the jungle. The KNLA soldiers know the land mine littered terrain well and are experts in guerrilla warfare. 'We have no fear' states one of the KNLA soldiers.
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