<span style="color: #222222;">Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base today near the border with Thailand.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A morale-boosting action for those opposing the military's takeover of the country's civilian government in February.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Myanmar's military staged airstrikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces, said a guerrilla spokesman.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Casualty figures were not yet known, the KNU's head of foreign affairs said in a text message. There was no immediate comment from Myanmar's military government.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The KNU, which controls territory in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border, is a close ally of the resistance movement against the military takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Its armed wing is called the Karen National Liberation Army.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">There is a similar situation in northern Myanmar, where the Kachin minority claims to have captured several government outposts and been the target of air attacks.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Karen and the Kachin are two of the bigger minority groups that have been seeking greater autonomy for decades, during which there have been periods of armed conflict punctuated by ceasefires.</span><br />''  <br />