More than 1,000 civilians from Karen State’s Myawaddy town walked across the 420-meter Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to Mae Sot – and safety in Thailand – on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They fled as the battle for control of Myawaddy town, on the Myanmar side of the Moi River, entered its second day and bombs continued to rain down from junta jets.
A Myawaddy Township resident who crossed the bridge today estimated that about 1,000 people crossed the bridge to Mae Sot this morning. Before the surge today, the number was between 100 and 200, he said.
A resident of Mae Sot said the town is running out of room for refugees from Myanmar.
“Almost all the apartments in Mae Sot have been rented, but over the last few days the increase in the number of newcomers from the Myanmar side [of the border] is noticeable,” the source added.
“More are coming,” the Mae Sot resident said. People from the Myanmar side of the border have been trying to rent apartments in Mae Sot before they even step foot on the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, he said.
Staff at a Myanmar human rights organization that has been exiled to Mae Sot estimate that the town has absorbed about 30,000 refugees from Myanmar since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
The number of new refugees began rising after the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied troops from the People’s Defense Force (PDF) began driving junta troops out of Myawaddy Township last week.
On Tuesday afternoon, KNLA and PDF troops attacked the headquarters of the last remaining battalion in the township, Infantry Battalion 275.
The battalion is stationed near the entrance to Myawaddy town.
The residents of the town and nearby villages began fleeing to Thailand via the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge after KNLA and PDF troops on Friday captured junta Infantry Battalion 357 at Thin Gan Nyi Naung village near Myawaddy.
Following the capture of Infantry Battalion 357, the KNLA and allies tried to negotiate the surrender of Infantry Battalion 257.
After talks failed, joint resistance forces attacked the battalion’s headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.
Residents of the town and nearby villages began rushing to the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge after resistance forces began attacking the headquarters of the battalion, which is located at an entrance to the town, according to residents who had arrived in Mae Sot.
Thailand is prepared to accept 100,000 people fleeing Myanmar, its foreign minister said Tuesday.
Residents of the town’s wards six and seven, which are near the headquarters of Infantry Battalion 275, were moved further into the town before junta aircraft began bombing around the base at about 2 pm on Tuesday, a resident of Myawaddy said, adding that the bombing lasted all night.
The bombs damaged homes near the Sein Le Myaing Bus Terminal, the source said, explaining that the terminal is located near the headquarters of Infantry Battalion 275.
Some shops and restaurants in Myawaddy have been shut, another source said.
“Junta authorities ordered the closure of government offices and departments starting today. Apart from this, our town is still running normally, but we are worried there will be a battle in the town,” the source added.
Myawaddy residents say the town is currently under the control of the Karen State Border Guard Force (BGF) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Troops from both have been patrolling the town since KNLA and PDF troops captured the base of Infantry Battalion 357 in Thingannyinaung.
Major Naing Maung Zaw of BFG told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that his troops had taken positions in Myawaddy town and would try to prevent fighting there. The BGF severed ties with the military regime in January, saying it would distance itself from the junta and rename itself the Karen National Army. The DKBA is an offshoot of the KNLA. The BGF is an offshoot of the DKBA.
No clashes have been reported inside the town but intense fighting continued near it on Wednesday. Junta jets bombed Myaynigone, a suburb of Myawaddy, on Wednesday.
Casualty figures could not be verified on Wednesday afternoon.
Myawaddy is Myanmar’s third-busiest land crossing on the Thai border. About US$1.1 billion in goods passed through it over the last 12 months, according to the junta’s Commerce Ministry.
