<span style="color: #222222;">Karen guerillas have inflicted heavy casualties on Myanmar troops. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">More than 250 Myanmarese troops have been killed in a week of fighting with the Karen ethnic rebels.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The fighting has intensified this month after the Myanmar army launched an offensive against the bases of the Karen National Union (KNU).</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A KNU commander told a news agency that about 220 soldiers from Myanmar military were also wounded in the clashes.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The KNU claimed that those killed in the fierce fighting include a colonel and a lieutenant colonel of Myanmar's armed forces.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The clashes escalated in Hpapun, Shwe Kyin and Thaton districts in Karen and Bago regions after the military wing of the KNU, Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 5, seized an outpost near the Salween River in Thi Mu Hta held by the military.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Karen rebels said that these attacks are to show support for the newly-formed National Unity Government set up by the elected lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.</span><br />''