Fighting erupts in Myanmar near Thai border

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO: Protesters join militia members to attend a training led by Karen National Union (KNU), amid protestest against the military coup, in Karen State, Myanmar April 9, 2021 in this picture obtained by Reuters on April 26, 2021. /File Photo

 

(Reuters) -Heavy fighting erupted at a Myanmar army outpost near the eastern border with Thailand early on Tuesday in an area largely controlled by forces of a Karen ethnic army, witnesses in Thailand said.

 

Gunfire could be heard from across the Salween river and video posted on social media showed fires and smoke rising from the forested hills.

 

“There has been heavy fighting at the Myanmar army outpost opposite Mae Sam Laep," said a provincial official from the northwestern Thai town of Mae Hong Son. "Our security officials are assessing the situation but so far there has been no report of impact on the Thai side."

 

The Karen Information Center, a local media group, said the the ethnic armed group had overrun the army outpost.

Myanmar's army made no immediate comment.

 

Nor did the Karen National Union (KNU) ethnic armed group, whose forces in the area had surrounded the army post and had clashed elsewhere with the army since it seized power in a Feb. 1 coup and plunged Myanmar into turmoil.

 

The fighting came days after Southeast Asian countries said they had reached consensus with Myanmar's junta on ending violence to try to halt the bloody crisis since the army takeover ended a decade of steps towards democracy.

 

Clashes between the army and some of the two dozen or so ethnic armed groups have broken out since the coup, after years of relative quiet.

 

Those armed groups have supported opponents of the junta, whose forces have killed more than 750 civilians to try to supress protests against the coup, according to an activist group that is monitoring fatalities and arrests.

 

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Stephen COates)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-04-27

 

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[anchadian]

Jonathan Head Retweeted

 

Andrew Nachemson

 

@ANachemson

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10m

 

 

Tatmadaw already walking back ASEAN agreements, saying they will only be considered once country has “stability” and if they are in line with junta’s own “roadmap”. What a waste of time

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

They should have invited the legal government to the ASEAN meeting as well.

[simon43]

Good for the KNU.  There is no peaceful resolution to this situation IMHO.  The only solution is to 'remove' the illegal government and senior military from the gene pool.  Hopefully, more action like this will persuade more junior military and police to switch sides.

[faraday]

They should set up a Go Fund Me, seriously.

 

Wish them the best.

[harada]

Might be hard for the butchers fighting against opponents over 5 years old with guns.

[malathione]

39 minutes ago, faraday said:

They should set up a Go Fund Me, seriously.

 

Wish them the best.

They don't need funds. Synthetic drug manufacture and smuggling funds them well and has for years now.

[natway09]

So much for ASEAN's expensive big emergency meeting in Jakarta

They continue as the "toothless tiger" in my book

[Meat Pie 47]

29 minutes ago, natway09 said:

So much for ASEAN's expensive big emergency meeting in Jakarta

They continue as the "toothless tiger" in my book

Just like the UN

[faraday]

4 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Just like the UN

Interesting Vice doc on the UN. Well worth a watch.

 

They seem as bad as 'the rest'.

[ExpatOilWorker]

40 minutes ago, faraday said:

Interesting Vice doc on the UN. Well worth a watch.

 

They seem as bad as 'the rest'.

What is the title of the documentary?

[ExpatOilWorker]

Plenty of room for a conflict.

 

[Excel]

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

Good for the KNU.  There is no peaceful resolution to this situation IMHO.  The only solution is to 'remove' the illegal government and senior military from the gene pool.  Hopefully, more action like this will persuade more junior military and police to switch sides.

All illegal governments should be removed by the best possible means.

[faraday]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

What is the title of the documentary?

Pm sent

[Mahseer]

Just read that martial law has been declared in Mindat, Chin State. Having visited several times over the past 4 years absolutely staggered by this news. 

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2115803/myanmar-junta-declares-martial-law-in-town-after-attacks-on-bank-police

[zzzzz]

terrible:
Mindat Civil Administrative Group announced that 4 helicopters landed in Mindat to reinforce Battalion 274 this morning and soldiers fired at least 15 artillery shells into the town. Five members of CDF were killed in the artillery fire yesterday.

[Mahseer]

zzzz, reason I was amazed to read about Mindat being under martial law is the place is just a small town strung out along a ridge and whenever I have been there only thing local folk were ever concerned about was where the next bottle of rice liquor was coming from. 
 

The town is remote and closer to India than Rangoon and tough to imagine the place in such a state.

[zzzzz]

exactly, the further away from the central government the more the people have a taste of freedom and will fight to keep it.

 

Look at all the borders areas..

[zzzzz]

good article:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/a-humanitarian-disaster-in-the-making-in-myanmars-chin-state
 

[Mahseer]

Thanks for posting that. As the article states now the men have fled the women are prone to abuse something that the Tatmadaw have been known to engage in.

 

This is my memory of an armed Mindat local.

[Mahseer]

You know situation is getting desperate when the chief of police has his own brother killed:

 

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regime-police-chiefs-democracy-activist-brother-dies-in-custody.html