About 200 Myanmar military personnel on Thursday retreated to a bridge leading to Thailand after days of attacks by anti-junta resistance groups. The resistance group claims to have won control of the key border town of Myawaddy, the latest in a series of rebel victories.

Myanmar’s junta is fighting the insurgents on multiple fronts and has suffered a series of defeats along the border since rebel groups launched a coordinated offensive near the Chinese border last October.

The impoverished Southeast Asian country has been plunged into chaos after the military overthrew its elected government in a 2021 coup, sparking a nationwide armed resistance that is now fighting alongside some of the country’s oldest ethnic rebel groups.

“Today, joint resistance forces led by the Karen National Union captured the remaining military base in Myawaddy,” Myanmar National Unity Government spokesman Kyaw Zaw told Reuters.

The body serves as a shadow government for ousted lawmakers and anti-junta groups.

“This is a key victory for our revolution because Myawaddy is an important border town for the military junta and one of the main revenue (sources) from border trade,” he added.

A spokesman for Myanmar’s military junta did not return calls seeking comment.

The retreat of junta troops in Myawaddy, adjacent to the Thai town of Mae Sot, signals the possible loss of another key border trade outpost with direct access to highways to parts of central Myanmar.

Saw Taw Nee, spokesman for the anti-junta Karen National Union (KNU), which led the attack on Myawaddy, said about 200 fleeing Myanmar soldiers gathered at the border crossing into Thailand on Thursday.

News outlet Khit Thit said Thai authorities were negotiating with the soldiers to decide whether to grant them asylum.

border crossing

The attack on Myawaddy began last week after the Karen National Union said it attacked a junta camp near the town, forcing about 500 security personnel and their families to surrender.

The Myanmar military has lost control of Myanmar’s border areas with Bangladesh, China and India while suffering massive manpower losses, forcing it to introduce conscription for the first time.

“Next, the resistance is likely to pursue major towns across Myanmar,” political analyst Than Son Naye said, adding that after the recent capture of Myawaddy, Myanmar’s resistance took control of almost all border trading posts.

Police officer Borwornphop Soontornlekha, the immigration director of Tak province, where Mae Sot is located, said crossings in the region had been opened to large numbers of civilians arriving in Thailand from Myanmar.

“Usually about 2,000 people enter Mae Sot from Myawaddy every day, but in the past three days the number has been almost 4,000 a day,” Borwornphop told Reuters.

Families with children lined up at a border crossing near Mae Sot on Thursday as Thai soldiers checked the luggage and belongings of those crossing the border.

The Thai military has beefed up security on its side of the border using military vehicles equipped with roof-mounted machine guns.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who earlier told Reuters Myanmar’s junta was “losing strength” and pushed for open talks with the regime, said on Thursday the latest fighting should not spread to Thailand Airspace.

Thailand remains neutral in the conflict in Myanmar and can host up to 100,000 people displaced by the unrest, its foreign minister said.
The latest round of fighting between rebels and the military has displaced at least 2,000 people across Myanmar, according to the Karen Peace Support Network, a civil society organization.