International Desk: Clashes between Myanmar’s junta and armed ethnic groups have resumed near a key trading hub near the border with Thailand after a week of calm. A spokesman for an armed group and the Thai army said this on Saturday. Khabar bus.
Conflict has raged in Myanmar since the military seized power from a democratically elected government in a 2021 coup.
Fierce fighting erupted around Myanmar’s trading hub Mayawaddy earlier this month, forcing the army to withdraw from its positions in the city. But the area was largely calm last week, and locals reported no fighting, although a regional bloc expressed “deep concern” over the ongoing situation on Friday.
The anti-junta Karen National Union (KNU) said some soldiers had taken refuge under a bridge connecting Mayawaddi with the Thai town of Mae Sot during earlier clashes.
KNU spokesman Pado Sao Thao Nee confirmed to AFP that the group was fighting the junta in Mayawaddi but did not elaborate.
A unit of the Thai army stationed on the border early this morning said clashes were underway targeting junta soldiers under the bridge. The Rajamanu Special Task Force said in a Facebook post that there are currently no reports of casualties in the midst of the fighting. It said the army deployed drones against troops stationed under the Second Friendship Bridge, a key trading point for the cash-strapped Myanmar army. The Thai task force also confirmed the bridge was closed and troops were standing by.
In a tweet, Thai Foreign Minister Parnapri Bahiddha-Nukara said they were closely monitoring the situation after receiving reports of clashes on Friday night.
The decision to withdraw troops from posts in the commercial city was a major blow to the junta, which has suffered several losses in recent months.
Mayawaddi is particularly important to the military, with $1.1 billion worth of trade through it in the 12 months to April.
A truck driver in Mayawaddi told AFP they heard the clash. They say war is not in the city but outside the city. We do not know anything about the situation at the moment.
Local Thai media shared video of scores of people queuing to enter Thailand on Saturday morning.
