Southeast Asia & Oceanian Affairs
Fighting raged at Myanmar's eastern border with Thailand on Saturday, both governments said, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.
Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on 11 April, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.
Witnesses on the Thai and Myanmar sides of the border said they heard explosions and heavy machine gun fire near a strategic bridge from late on Friday into Saturday.
Thai broadcaster NBT, in a post on X, said resistance forces used 40mm machine guns and dropped 20 bombs from drones to target an estimated 200 junta soldiers who had retreated from a coordinated rebel assault on Myawaddy and army posts since 5 April.
Myanmar's state-run MRTV in its nightly newscast said the militias and ethnic minority rebels had used excessive shelling and bombing to attack junta troops, and government forces had responded with airstrikes to try to maintain stability. It said rebels retreated having sustained many losses.
Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts of the fighting.
Thailand's prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, said he was closely monitoring the unrest and his country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance if necessary.
According to figures compiled by Thailand's military and the provincial authority, 3,027 people had on Saturday crossed the border to seek temporary refuge in the town of Mae Sot.
Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on 11 April, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.
Witnesses on the Thai and Myanmar sides of the border said they heard explosions and heavy machine gun fire near a strategic bridge from late on Friday into Saturday.
Thai broadcaster NBT, in a post on X, said resistance forces used 40mm machine guns and dropped 20 bombs from drones to target an estimated 200 junta soldiers who had retreated from a coordinated rebel assault on Myawaddy and army posts since 5 April.
Myanmar's state-run MRTV in its nightly newscast said the militias and ethnic minority rebels had used excessive shelling and bombing to attack junta troops, and government forces had responded with airstrikes to try to maintain stability. It said rebels retreated having sustained many losses.
Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts of the fighting.
Thailand's prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, said he was closely monitoring the unrest and his country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance if necessary.
According to figures compiled by Thailand's military and the provincial authority, 3,027 people had on Saturday crossed the border to seek temporary refuge in the town of Mae Sot.
