Over 2,500 Flee To Thailand After Conflicts Between Karen Separatists & Myanmar Military Heat Up

In recent weeks, the UN Human Rights Office has received multiple reports of villages being burned, including protected structures, such as places of religious worship and residential buildings.

This photo taken on October 16, 2021 shows members of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF). (Image Source: AFP)

New Delhi: About 2,500 people have crossed the lines between Thailand and Myanmar to escape fighting between Myanmar troops and rebels, Sputnik reported citing Thai media on Friday. 

Somchai Kitcharoenrungroj, who leads the Thai province of Tak bordering the conflict-hit Karen state, said in a Thai Public Broadcasting Service report that there were hundreds of children among the refugees. Thai authorities are working to provide everyone with food and shelter, he added.

In recent weeks, the UN Human Rights Office has received multiple reports of villages being burned, including protected structures, such as places of religious worship and residential buildings.

According to AP News, the exodus was the biggest since April, when several thousand villagers from Myanmar's eastern state of Karen fled to Thailand following airstrikes by Myanmar government forces in territory held by the Karen ethnic minority. They were allowed to stay for a few days then returned to Myanmar. The Thai authorities provided the evacuees mostly women and children with humanitarian assistance including shelter and food and tested them for COVID-19.

After the coup of General Min Aung Hlaing's forces have repeatedly failed to respect their obligations under international law to protect the country's people, said Colville. As a result, more than 1,300 individuals have lost their lives and another 10,600 have been detained.

These clashes between ethnic minority separatists from the Karen National Union and troops loyal to Myanmar's military government erupted this week after soldiers raided the province. The Karen are one of several ethnic minorities who have been battling for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government. Fighting between the two sides is intermittent, but heated up after the military in February seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, AP reported.

On Thursday, after a shell landed on Thai soil causing a small fire in a sugarcane plantation, the Thai army task force responsible for border security issued a warning Thursday through the joint Thai-Myanmar Border Committee that it was prepared to retaliate if stray artillery shells landed on Thai soil, AP further reported.

This week's clashes were triggered by a raid on Tuesday by government soldiers on the town of Lay Kay Kaw, which is in territory under the de facto control of the Karen National Union, or KNU, the civil authority for the area, the report added.