IMNA : Fighting that began yesterday at Myawaddy Township between the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), brigade 5 and Burmese government troops is still on-going, causing many Myawaddy residents to flee to the Thai side of the border.
Today, reports say heavy weaponry was fired three times by the DKBA and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), type 81, were fired back four times by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, Burmese government troops).
Nearly 400 villagers from Waylee village fled to the Thai side. Villagers from Par Luu village have also fled due to their nearness to Major Saw La Bol’s DKBA military base.
“Now refugees have arrived gradually and increasingly all the time. Yesterday there were about 20,000 refugees that fled to the Thai side,” explained one person who provided aid to those fleeing the fighting. He explained, “the refugees cannot go back to Myawaddy right now because of the unrest. So I think they will stay here [on the Thai side] for a week.”
NGOs, including the Overseas Mon Women’s Organization (OMWO), the UN, teachers from the Mon School in Myawaddy, and other Mae Sot residents have provided clothes and food for the refugees.
Currently, in Myawaddy, SPDC reinforcements have been arriving and they are setting up more SPDC bases around Myawaddy, explained one traveller who arrived in Myawaddy yesterday.
