Myanmar’s junta bases near the Thai border in Karen State have been firing numerous shells since the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies launched attacks on Thursday morning.
The Thingannyinaung bases between the border town of Myawaddy and Kawkareik are on the important Asia Highway to Thailand. Almost 7,000 villagers have left Myawaddy Township with many crossing the Moei River into Thailand.
On Saturday, a KNLA fighter said anti-regime forces attacked Infantry Battalions 356 and 357 in Thingannyinaung after they seized Infantry Battalion 355 and a police station. The regime reportedly responded with shelling.
He said arms and ammunition were taken from Battalion 355 and the police station was burned down while junta airstrikes continued until Wednesday.
“Villagers cannot return while junta aircraft are bombing the village,” the KNLA representative added.
Over 80 Thingannyinaung homes have been destroyed by junta bombing, he said.
On Monday evening the KNLA and its resistance allies, including the Cobra Column, attacked the junta’s Pha Luu village base south of Myawaddy on the border.
According to the Cobra Column, junta troops abandoned the base after 10 minutes of fighting, seizing arms and ammunition, and the regime launched airstrikes in response.
Pha Luu on the banks of the Moei had more than 1,000 households with around 1,000 villagers crossing into Thailand, the armed group said.
Pha Luu and Thingannyinaung villages have suffered from repeated junta airstrikes and shelling with fighting now spreading to Lat Khat Taung.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
The Joint Action Committee For Burmese Affairs, a Burmese lobby group in Thailand, told Radio Free Asia that Thai border guards were on alert to stop refugees illegally crossing the border.
The Thai agency said more than 600 refugees from Myanmar had been arrested along the border since February 10.
Thailand’s police chief warned the border authorities that drugs and other illegal goods were also being smuggled from Myanmar, RFA reported.
