Fighting Flares at Myanmar-Thai Border as Rebels Target Stranded Junta Troops

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Fighting raged at Myanmar's eastern frontier with Thailand on Saturday, April 20, witnesses and Thailand's government said, forcing nearly 1,700 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, a big blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.

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 into early Saturday.

Thai broadcaster NBT, in a post on X social media, said resistance forces used 40-mm 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.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reports and a Myanmar junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was closely monitoring the unrest and his country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance if necessary.

The Thai health ministry said 1,686 people had crossed the border to seek temporary refuge in the town of Mae Sot on Saturday, with one person injured by shrapnel. It said nearly half of the exodus were children and elderly people.

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