WEB DESK
Fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic rebels has forced about 5,000 people many of them women and children, flee across the country’s border into Thailand this week, officials told media today.
The clashes broke out when rebels in the southern Karen state attacked a military border guard outpost, according to reports in Thailand’s Khaosod English newspaper.
Myanmar’s military government, which overthrew an elected government in a 2021 coup, is grappling with armed insurgencies in large areas of the country and has faced global condemnation for its lethal crackdown on dissent and pro-democracy movements.
About these people, had crossed into Thailand’s Tak province, and taken refuge in temporary shelters set up by local residents, according to Thai officials and an aid worker.
Thailand said its air force was monitoring the situation and was ready to send patrol flights if Thai airspace is violated.
The Thai-Myanmar border command centre in Tak province is working together with relevant agencies to provide safety and give assistance in accordance to humanitarian principles to all those who fled the fighting in Myanmar, the provincial government said in a statement today..
Last week, at least eight civilians, including children, were killed in an air strike on a village in northwest Myanmar.