Myanmar troops retreat to Thai border bridge

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In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 11 Apr 2024 at 11: 35

Myanmar troops retreat to Thai border bridge
On December 19, 2021, a Thai man stands in front of the street that has been blocked between the Thailand and Myanmar border, where fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebels is still ongoing in the Mae Sot area, Tak province, Thailand. ( File photo: Reuters )

Following a days-long assault by anti-junta rebels in the area, according to an ethnic armed team spokeswoman and local press, about 200 Burmese military officers withdrew on Thursday from a bridge connecting the border city of Myawaddy to Thailand.

Armed insurgent groups are being fought out by Myanmar’s military-run state on a number of fronts, and it has lost numerous times in its border regions.

The surrender of junta soldiers in Myawaddy, which is close to Thailand’s Mae Sot, indicates the possible loss of another important border trading hub with strong highway access to parts of northern Myanmar.

On Thursday, around 200 fleeing men were gathered at a border passing into Thailand, said Saw Taw Nee, director for the Karen National Union (KNU), an pro- coup group leading the rape on Myawaddy.

According to local news outlet Khit Thit, Thai authorities were discussing whether to give them shelter with the troops.

The Myanmar junta’s official did not respond to requests for comment.

The KNU claimed last week that its soldiers had attacked a dictatorship camp close to Myawaddy, obstructing about 600 security employees and their families to retreat.

According to Pol Col Borwornphop Soontornlekha, Superintendent of Immigration in the Thai territory of Tak, where Mae Sot is located, residents who have been entering Thailand from Myanmar in large numbers were allowed to enter the place.

” Typically, there are about 2, 000 people who enter Mae Sot from Myawaddy each time, but the last three times the amount was about 4, 000,” Pol Col Borwornphop told Reuters.

Thailand’s defense has increased stability on its side of the border by deploying military vehicles with roof-mounted machine guns.

According to the civil society organization Karen Peace Support Network, at least 2, 000 people have been displaced in Myanmar as a result of the most recent round of conflict between the separatists and the defense.

Myanmar’s defense, which took power in a 2021 revolution after deposing an elected civilian government, has faced a series of failures against a soft empire of ethnic rebel teams and a human military action.