KPF Lieutenant Colonel released from arrest

2009 July 14

by peacerunning
Tue 14 Jul 2009, IMNAA senior military leader from the Karen Peace Force (KPF) was released from arrest and arrived home to Three Pagodas Pass last night.
KPF battalion No. 3 commander, Lieutenant Colonel Saw Lay War arrived home in the evening after being detained since July 8th.
Lay War was captured by No. 16 battalion of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the main Karen political party the Karen National Union (KNU).
The KPF split from the KNU in 1997 and has since allied itself with the ruling Burmese junta, agreeing to reconstitute itself as a Border Guard Force (BGF). The group is currently estimated to have a fighting force of close to 500.
Sources from the KNU said that 3 KPF soldiers were captured near the Zami River, Kyainnseikyi Township.
“Lieutenant Colonel Saw Lay War arrived home last night with a personal assistant and 2 traders,“ a source close to the KPF told IMNA.
Lieutenant Colonel Saw Lay War and his soldiers were captured without fighting while returning to Three Pagodas Pass via boat, after having met with SPDC officials in Nyai Pya Daw.
Battalion No. 16 is led by Lieutenant Colonel Mahn Than Hlaing, the nephew of the arrested KPF Lieutenant Colonel. According to a source from Three Pagodas Pass, this relationship predicated the release of Lay War.