Back Karenni Nationalities Defence Force German Force de défense des nationalités karenni French カレンニー諸民族防衛隊 Japanese ဒပ်ဒစဵုဒၞာဂကူကရေင်ဍာဲဂမၠိုင် MNW ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့ Burmese Força de Defesa das Nacionalidades Karenni Portuguese 克伦尼民族保卫军 Chinese
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| Karenni Nationalities Defence Force | |
|---|---|
| ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားများကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့ | |
 Flag of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force | |
| Founding leader | Khun Bedu[1] |
| Foundation | 31 May 2021 |
| Dates of operation | 31 May 2021 – present |
| Country | Myanmar |
| Active regions | Kayah State Shan State Kayin State Myanmar-Thailand border |
| Ideology | Federalism Democracy Minority rights |
| Size | 7000+ [2] |
| Allies | Other allies
|
| Opponents | State opponents: Non-state opponents: |
| Battles and wars | |
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF; Burmese: ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားများကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့,) is a defence force for the local Karenni federal state and pro democracy armed group in Myanmar formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. The KNDF also includes other organizations and Operate under the commander-in-chief of Karenni Army (KA) armed wing of KNPP, which an official regard as "good relations between the EAOs and the public"[9] The KNDF has engaged in fighting with the junta, mainly with the 66th Light Infantry Division.[10]
On 6 June 2023, the KNDF issued a report on the second anniversary of their founding. They stated that they have established 22 battalions and six military strategies. They also claimed that the junta now has control over Loikaw and other urban wards only, and most areas in the state are under the control of the resistance groups. As of Jan 2025 the KNDF sees itself as a defence force aiding the Pro Democracy movement and not a traditional Ethnic Armed Organization. The KNDF as of 2025 includes many ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.[11]
- ^ ""We are Getting Stronger to Complete the Revolution": Karenni Resistance Leader". The Irrawaddy. 15 June 2022. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
- ^ "တရုတ်နယ်စပ်က ရိုင်ဖယ်များနှင့် အားမာန်ပြည့်လာသည့် တပ်ဖွဲ့သစ်များ" [Armed groups rejuvenated by rifles from Chinese borderlands]. Irrawaddy (in Burmese). 6 June 2023. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "Intense clash in Mese, Karenni State". Democratic Voice of Burma (in Burmese). 20 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ "The 4K, the clash in Mese, and the military movement of Karenni State". People's Spring (in Burmese). 20 June 2023. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
- ^ Myanmar Military Now at War With Ethnic Pa-O Army And Allies in Southern Shan State. Brian Wei. January 26, 2024. The Irrawaddy Archived January 26, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Myanmar Resistance Claims Victory Over Junta Outpost". The Irrawaddy. 13 May 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "မြေပြင်စစ်ကူဝင်နိုင်သည့် လမ်းကြောင်းများကို မြောက်ပိုင်းမဟာမိတ် ထိန်းချုပ်". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
- ^ J, Esther (10 November 2023). "After attacking military target in Karenni State, KNDF and KNPLF announce launch of 'Operation 1107'". Myanmar Now. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "An interview with the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) information officer | Burma News International". bnionline.net. Archived from the original on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
- ^ "Thousands flee air strikes as fighting erupts in Myanmar". CNN. 25 February 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
- ^ "KNDF's Message On 2nd Anniversary Of Establishment". BNI - Myanmar Peace Monitor (in Burmese and English) (107): 2–3. 6 June 2023. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.