Myanmar military warns Thai traders against sending goods to KNU
A Myanmar protest letter threatens to attack a KNU supply depot opposite Mae Sam Laep if Thailand continues facilitating deliveries to the group.
- Myanmar's military sent a formal protest letter to Thailand, warning traders and officials to stop sending goods to the Karen National Union (KNU).
- The warning specifically instructed traders not to contact the KNU or use the KNU-controlled Thaw Le Hta checkpoint, threatening it with an airstrike.
- The protest document declared the KNU an "unlawful organisation" and stated that Thai operators conducting business with the group are violating Myanmar law.
- The military reiterated that it is monitoring supply routes from the air and will continue "strict controls and crackdowns" on any support for the KNU.
A public relations official for Karen National Union (KNU) forces said the Myanmar army had sent a protest letter to Thailand through the Myanmar–Thailand border committee in Myawaddy, Karen State, on Monday (August 31, 2026).
The letter formally warned Thai border officials, traders and businesspeople, instructing traders not to contact the KNU or transport goods through the KNU-controlled Thaw Le Hta checkpoint. It also warned that the checkpoint would be attacked from the air.
The KNU maintained that the incident was an airstrike carried out by the Myanmar air force to sever supply routes and halt border trade serving the KNU’s 5th Brigade. Villagers and military observers believed the attack posed a significant threat to stability along the border between the two countries and to the safety of Thai civilians living close to the frontier.
Earlier, the Myanmar–Thailand Township Border Committee in Myawaddy (TBC–Myawaddy) had lodged a protest with Thailand on Monday (August 31, 2026), warning that Myanmar forces would attack a KNU supply depot opposite Ban Mae Sam Laep in Thailand’s Sop Moei district if Thailand did not stop facilitating deliveries of goods, food and other daily necessities to the group.
The Myanmar protest document referred to a remote location in Hpapun that it described as unlawful under Myanmar law, and stated that the armed KNU had been declared an “unlawful organisation”.
It asserted that Thai operators conducting business in the area were violating Myanmar law and requested that they be warned against involvement in, or support for, trading activities supporting the armed KNU.
It added that the government was continuously monitoring the group’s supply and support routes from the air.
Referring to direct and indirect activity, it stated that strict controls and crackdowns would continue.
The document also stated that, if political parties or business operators in Thailand were found to have links with the KNU or to cooperate with it in any form, whether in business, social or political affairs, such conduct would be highly inappropriate.
It reiterated that the government had declared the armed KNU unlawful and asked the recipients to take note and examine the matter thoroughly.
Thaw Le Hta was originally a Myanmar military camp before Karen troops of the KNU’s 5th Brigade captured it from Myanmar forces on Tuesday (April 27, 2021).
Myanmar troops returned to bomb the camp again on [date to be confirmed], but the extent of any damage sustained by Karen forces there was not yet known.
