Fighting flares at Myanmar-Thai border as rebels target stranded junta troops

20/4/2024 15:45

        Fighting raged at Myanmar's eastern frontier with Thailand on Saturday, witnesses, media and Thailand's government said, forcing about 200 civilians to flee as rebels pressed to flush out junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.
        
        Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on April 11, dealing a big blow to a well-equipped military that is struggling to govern and is now facing a critical test of its battlefield credibility.
        
        Three witnesses on the Thai and Myanmar sides of the border said they heard explosions and heavy machine gun fire near a strategic bridge from late on Friday that continued into early Saturday.
        
        Several Thai media outlets said about 200 people had crossed the border to seek temporary refuge in Thailand.
        
        Thai broadcaster NBT in a post on social media platform X said resistance forces used 40-milimetre machine guns and dropped 20 bombs from drones to target an estimated 200 junta soldiers who had retreated from a coordinated rebel assault on Myawaddy and army posts since April 5.