Civilians killed, injured in clashes on Thailand-Myanmar border

Fighting came to a temporary halt in the border trade hub of Myawaddy, Karen State on Monday after two days of intense clashes between the Myanmar military and a Karen anti-junta armed group that resulted in at least seven civilian deaths. The battles in Myawaddy ended with a retreat by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), and its allies. The fighting began at around 7pm the previous Friday, when junta forces at the truck station at the 2nd Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge came under attack by the KNLA and its allies. The bridge, sometimes simply called ‘Border Bridge 2’ by locals, is one of two connecting Myawaddy to the town of Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak Province on the opposite bank of the Moei (Thaungyin) River. The fighting came to a stop Friday night but resumed at 6am the following day. Junta troops had arrived at the truck station after retreating from the Infantry Battalion (IB) 275 base located west of town, which came under attack by the KNLA-led anti-junta fighters in the second week of April. It was unclear what the troops’ intentions were after their retreat from the base, and they initially appeared to be awaiting an opportunity to cross the border. However, a statement released by the military council on Saturday said the same troops were “security forces near the 2nd Friendship Bridge.” In fact, the junta troops dug trenches at the truck station near the bridge and set up defences since April 14, Myanmar Now has learned. Anti-junta forces have attempted to deploy drones to attack the troops, while the junta air force has dropped as many as 12 bombs on either side of the bridge using MI-35 helicopters and Y-12 aircraft. The anti-junta forces “retreated westward with heavy casualties,” according to a statement released by the military council on Saturday, which did not disclose exact casualty figures. On April 22, KNU Central Spokesperson Padoh Saw Kale Say confirmed that the KNLA had chosen to halt the attack on the junta position near the bridge. “At the moment, the attack has been stopped temporarily for the sake of public safety. We have stopped our assault and retreated," he told Myanmar Now on Monday. The KNU Central Executive Committee (KNU Central) issued a statement on Monday saying there were at least 30 dead on the junta side, and at least 30 injured, including Col. Soe Min Thant of Light Infantry Division 44. Myanmar Now was unable to confirm these figures independently. Although there were casualties on both sides, the KNU Central statement did not give information on casualties incurred by the Karen-led forces. Saw Leh Htoo, an officer of the Mya Sandi Column resistance force under the command of the anti-junta, shadow National Unity Government (NUG) spoke with Myanmar Now about the state of battle in Myawaddy. He confirmed public posts on the group’s Facebook page that claimed fighting near the 2nd Friendship Bridge had killed one of their sergeants and severely injured another fighter. Although gunfire had died down in Myawaddy by around midnight between Sunday and Monday, two junta fighter planes bombed the village of Me Ka Nei some two miles west of town. There were no casualties reported. Local sources said they did not see the Karen State Border Guard Force (BGF), an armed group responsible for security in Myawaddy, joining the battle on either side. The BGF of Karen State—an erstwhile ally of the Myanmar military that has rebranded as the Karen National Army and publicly distanced itself from the military regime in recent months—previously adopted a neutral position in the conflict between the military and the KNU. Regarding whether the violence will grow worse, Myawaddy residents’ opinions are divided. Some believe that the fighting or airstrikes will stay concentrated around Border Bridge 2, while others fear the violence in the town is likely to spread, possibly reaching the more populated areas of the town. A local woman said she did not know whether to expect a large-scale battle in Myawaddy. “Although the situation was calm this morning, we heard fighting later in the evening. On other days, after a quiet night, there were sounds of battle the next morning. There’s really no way to predict,” she said. Anti-junta forces delay military reinforcements KNLA-led forces intercepted a military convoy carrying reinforcements to help recapture Myawaddy on Sunday, with the military losing several vehicles including an armoured car in the ensuing battle, according to the KNU Central, which added that six junta personnel including a captain were killed. The KNLA claimed to have seized an armoured vehicle, two military vehicles armed with machine guns, 11 small arms including a 0.5-calibre rifle, and various types of ammunition, the KNU Central statement said. The military council has not disclosed any information on the status of its reinforcement column advancing towards Myawaddy. The Myanmar military has dubbed its campaign to retake Myawaddy “Operation Aung Zeya”, using the name of an 18th-century Burmese king known for launching an invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai state ruling most of the territory that would later become Thailand. The reinforcement column—sent towards Myawaddy as part of Operation Aung Zeya—was reportedly still making its way through the Dawna Hills west of Myawaddy and had been unable to reach the town before clashes broke out. Civilian casualties Locals said there were intense exchanges of fire between the KNLA-led and junta forces during the battle in Myawaddy, which impacted civilians as well as taking a heavy toll on combatants. Two-thirds of Myawaddy’s civilian population fled the town in chaos on Saturday as the fighting raged. Videos posted on Facebook showed crowds rushing to board boats crossing the Moei River to Mae Sot amid the sounds of battle. The 2nd Friendship Bridge was closed to traffic on Saturday, and the 1st Friendship Bridge was closed to pedestrians on Sunday. Between seven and nine civilians were injured in the battle, according to locals. Three civilians were killed by resistance forces’ gunfire, while another four were killed by junta aerial bombing, a Myawaddy rescue worker said. According to the rescue worker, the civilians shot by resistance fighters were the family of a man named Kyaw Swa that owned a restaurant in the town. The victims were driving away from the restaurant towards the border to seek shelter from airstrikes when their car came under fire near the 2nd Friendship Bridge. People’s Defence Force fighters—part of the anti-junta resistance—shot at them as their car reached the Yaepu traffic signal, the rescue worker said. “The car window was open, and they were in a rush to get away from the fighting. A group of resistance fighters at the Yaepu traffic lights fired on the car with a machine gun. The car veered off the road and into a ditch. Two women were killed instantly, and a 13-year-old boy died later at the hospital,” he said. Facebook posts by Mae Sot residents said the deceased were Kyaw Swa’s youngest daughter, his daughter-in-law, and his nephew. “Kyaw Swa and his wife are now receiving treatment for gunshot wounds in Mae Sot," the rescue worker added. Another volunteer rescue worker from Myawaddy who spoke to Myanmar Now confirmed these claims. "The PDF fired on the Toyota Alphard being driven by the girl as it was approaching,” he said, referring to Kyaw Swa’s wife. “The girl was scared and tried to drive away. The troops used up a whole box of ammunition on the vehicle.” Four other civilians killed during the battle were near a meditation centre when they were struck by bombs from a junta plane. Another four civilians were injured, and two were later transferred to the Mae Sot Public Hospital due to the severity of their injuries. The other two are still in Myawaddy General Hospital, locals said. Thailand’s public health minister Cholnan Srikaew told Radio Free Asia that 38 people injured in the Myawaddy battle are currently undergoing treatment at the Mae Sot hospital, but he declined to specify whether the patients were civilians or armed personnel. In the past, the Mae Sot hospital is known to have treated wounded personnel from both sides of the conflict in Karen State. Growing displacement The fighting in Myawaddy forced more than 3,000 civilians to flee their homes towards Mae Sot seeking shelter, although many did not ultimately stay there. Since the evening of April 21, when fighting began to abate, residents have been returning to their homes in Myawaddy from the Moei River. An official of the Overseas Irrawaddy Association, a rights advocacy group aiding refugees in Thailand, told Myanmar Now that only around 1,000 of the refugees displaced by the recent fighting ultimately stayed in Mae Sot, while the rest have returned home. "They stayed along the bank of the Moei on the Thai-Myanmar border. During the day, they returned to their homes, only to come back to the riverbank at night. They have returned home as the fighting has eased, but if it erupts again, they will have to flee," he said. Fighting near Border Bridge 2 has impacted trade between the two countries, and the number of displaced people has risen rapidly. In Myawaddy Township, more than 5,000 fled their homes in the first week amid clashes in the village of Thin Gan Nyi Naung, located west of Myawaddy on the Asia Highway. The number displaced has increased to nearly 10,000 after the recent fighting in Myawaddy, according to relief workers. The displaced people are in need of food, medicine, and other aid, Myawaddy residents said. International attention Notwithstanding the recent battles, there are more foreign journalists covering the situation in Myawaddy than other sites of conflict in Myanmar. International attention has turned to Myawaddy and its vicinity due to its growth as a transnational trade hub in recent decades, as well as its more recent transformation into a base for international crime, such as the online scam and trafficking operations that grew out of casinos in the Shwe Kokko new city project, some 12 miles north of Myawaddy. On the Thai side of the border, international journalists, intelligence personnel, and police have easy access to information in Mae Sot. Some journalists have travelled from Mae Sot to Myawaddy to report on the situation, with some Thai news teams even visiting a military base abandoned by junta troops. Although the fierce fighting in Myawaddy has resulted in casualties and destruction, the disorder has presented some with opportunities, as when more than 20 citizens of the Philippines held by criminal scammers in Myawaddy Township were able to cross the border to Mae Sot, according to report on Monday by a Philippine news agency.

Civilians killed, injured in clashes on Thailand-Myanmar border

Junta airstrikes and gunfire from resistance forces killed at least seven civilians in Myawaddy, Karen State since last week in battles that have captured the world’s attention and could determine control of Myanmar’s land borders

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