More than 3,000 residents from at least seven villages have been displaced by fighting in Pulaw Township, Tanintharyi Region.
Fighting started after junta troops raided Kye village on October 14.
Myeik District People’s Defense Force’s (PDF) spokesman told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “The fighting is heavy. There was fighting last night. There has been fighting in Kye, Settawyar and Pala villages.”
He added that both sides have suffered casualties, including forced junta conscripts.
“On October 18, we found dead conscripts, dumped by the regime. Their ID cards showed they were mosty born this century and were from Ayeyarwady Region and southern Shan State,” he said.
Infantry Battalions 101, 103 and 107 under Myeik’s Coastal Region Command, Infantry Battalions 280 and 285 from Palauk and Pulaw-based Infantry Battalion 17 are active in Pulaw.
Junta troops are torching village houses amid airstrikes, according to resistance groups.
A Pulaw Township PDF member said: “Around 300 junta troops are using National Highway 8 and waterways to raid villages.”
Hundreds of cars and trucks were stranded on October 15 on the highway linking Myeik, Pulaw and Dawei with Myeik PDF telling residents not to use the road.
Civilians are instead using water transport, according to residents.
On Sunday evening, a boat capsized near Kyaukka village while carrying displaced Pulaw residents and students heading home for the Thadingyut holiday. Twenty bodies were retrieved by Wednesday, according to rescuers.
A Kyaukka village rescuer said: “The boat operated between the village and Myeik. It was carrying displaced people and other residents.”
Around 2,700 people are in a displacement camp in Pulaw town while others are in nearby villages and other camps, according to FE 5 Tanintharyi, an independent research group based in Tanintharyi Region.
