(Mae Sot) Thai armored vehicles patrolled the town of Mae Sot on Wednesday while artillery fire was heard in Burma where the junta and an armed ethnic group clashed on Wednesday for the second consecutive day near Myawaddy, a locality of great importance for commercial exchanges.
Hundreds of people queued to enter Thailand at the Mae Sot immigration checkpoint, many fleeing the latest round of fighting to rock Myanmar since the military wrested power from a democratically elected government in 2021.
Thai soldiers took up positions under the Friendship Bridge, a structure spanning a dry river that connects their country to Myawaddy, and the silhouettes of Burmese soldiers were visible on the other bank.
“I was scared, so I decided to go to the Thai side,” Khu, a 49-year-old resident of Myawaddy, told AFP, clutching her dog to her chest.
PHOTO MANAN VATSYAYANA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Khu, a resident of Myawaddy fleeing violence
She claims to have obtained a visa to stay in Thailand for seven days but confides that she does not intend to return to Burma before the end of the clashes.
A Thai soldier, who refused to give his name, said the explosions caused by the conflict were the most intense he had heard in 15 years in Mae Sot.
Jafal Sweardik, 14, has just crossed the border with his family from Myawaddy, where he says echoes of artillery and gunfire have overshadowed Eid festivities.
“It was horrible, very scary,” he told AFP, adding that he was looking forward to meeting his family in Thailand and sharing a meal with them for Eid.
Fights “all night”
Karen National Union (KNU) fighters said on Saturday they had captured the Thingannyinaung military base, about 10 kilometers west of Myawaddy, and that more than 600 soldiers, police and their families had surrendered.
No comment on this could be obtained from the junta.
According to Myanmar’s Commerce Ministry, trade through Myawaddy over the past 12 months totaled $1.1 billion, a vital source of revenue for Myanmar’s cash-strapped military.
Residents of the town told AFP that fighting began in its surrounding area on Tuesday, pushing people to flee to Thailand, but that KNU troops did not appear to have entered Myawaddy.
“There was fighting all last night and also in the morning,” one of them, who refused to give his name for security reasons, told AFP on Wednesday.
“We can hear artillery fire and explosions from our house. Planes are flying over the city.”
“My mother and siblings fled to Mae Sot this morning. I now keep our house with my uncle.”
A truck driver on the road to Myawaddy in Burma also reported hearing planes flying overhead and artillery fire on Wednesday.
A place to stay
In neighboring Thailand, a resident of Mae Sot told AFP he saw eight Thai military vehicles heading towards the border on Tuesday evening.
“Many people entered Mae Sot from the other side (Burma),” he stressed.
“I’ve also seen a lot of posts online from people looking for accommodation.”
The number of those passing through the Thai immigration post daily from Myanmar has risen to around 4,000 in recent days from the usual 1,900, an immigration official told AFP.
He added that the authorities were increasing the number of immigration officers to cope with a possible increase in the flow of arrivals.
Thailand has a 2,400-kilometer border with Burma and Thailand’s foreign minister said Tuesday that the kingdom was ready to welcome 100,000 people fleeing the ongoing conflict.