Attack by Myanmar's Kachin minority signals deepening crisis

Kachin guerrillas attacked a police outpost in northern Myanmar early Wednesday, local media reported, in an indication of the deepening involvement of ethnic minority armed forces in the country’s popular movement seeking to unseat the junta that seized power in February.

The action follows conflict in eastern Myanmar, where Karen guerrillas seized an army outpost Saturday and Myanmar’s military followed with airstrikes that killed about 10 villagers and drove thousands more across the border into Thailand.

After the airstrikes, the Karen National Union issued a statement from one of its armed units saying Myanmar military “ground troops are advancing into our territories from all fronts” and it may have to respond. The KNU is the main political body representing the Karen minority.

Anti-coup protesters hold slogans during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday March 31, 2021. The Southeast Asian nation has been wracked by violence since the military ousted a civilian-led government on February 1 and began to forcibly put down protests. (AP Photo)

The conflict in eastern Myanmar expanded the crisis regionally, as an estimated 3,000 Karen took temporary shelter in neighboring Thailand. Thai authorities said Wednesday only about 200 remained in the country and were preparing to go back across the border.

Leaders of the protest movement against the military’s Feb. 1 ouster of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi have been seeking an alliance with the ethnic minorities’ armed groups to boost pressure on the junta. They would like them to form what they are calling a federal army as a counterweight to the government armed forces.

It is unclear what, if any, progress has been made toward that goal, though several of the major groups — including the Kachin, the Karen and the Rakhines’ Arakan Army in western Myanmar — have publicly denounced the coup and said they will defend protesters in the territory they control.

Anti-coup protesters run to avoid military forces during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday March 31, 2021. The Southeast Asian nation has been wracked by violence since the military ousted a civilian-led government on Feb. 1 and began to forcibly put down protests. (AP Photo)

More than a dozen of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have been seeking greater autonomy for decades, going through cycles of armed conflict and uneasy ceasefires.

The Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization, attacked a police station in Kachin state's Shwegu township before dawn in Wednesday, local outlets The 74 Media and Bhamo Platform reported. The attackers were reported to have seized weapons and supplies and wounded one police officer.

The Kachin have staged a series of attacks on government forces since the coup, saying the latest round of fighting was triggered by government assaults on four Kachin outposts. After one Kachin attack in mid-March, the military retaliated with a helicopter attack on a Kachin base.

Protests meanwhile continue in Myanmar’s cities against the military takeover that reversed a decade of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country that followed five decades of army rule.

Anti-coup protesters marched through an area of Yangon on Wednesday despite reduced numbers in the face of the ever-climbing death toll.

At least 521 protesters have been killed since the coup, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which counts those it can document and says the actual toll is likely much higher. It says 2,608 people have been detained, a total that includes Suu Kyi.

The mainly young demonstrators processed through the city’s Hlaing suburb, stopping to honor a protester killed in an earlier confrontation with security forces.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered non-essential U.S. diplomats and their families to leave Myanmar, expecting the protests to continue. The U.S. earlier suspended a trade deal and imposed sanctions on junta leaders as well as restricted business with military holding companies.

BANGKOK (AP) — About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted at a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas.

Fighters from the Karen ethnic minority last week captured the last of the Myanmar army’s outposts in and around Myawaddy, which is connected to Thailand by two bridges across the Moei River.

The latest clashes were triggered in the morning when the Karen guerillas launched an attack against Myanmar troops who were hiding near the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, a major crossing point for trade with Thailand, said police chief Pittayakorn Phetcharat in Thailand's Mae Sot district. He estimated about 1,300 people fled into Thailand.

Thai officials reported people had started crossing since Friday following clashes in several areas of Myawaddy.

The fall of Myawaddy is a major setback for the military that seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. Myanmar’s once-mighty armed forces have suffered a series of unprecedented defeats since last October, losing swathes of territory including border posts to both ethnic fighters, who have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, and pro-democracy guerrilla units that took up arms after the military takeover.

The clashes, involving drone attacks from the Karen forces and airstrikes by the Myanmar military, had subsided by noon Saturday compared to the morning, but Mae Sot police chief Pittayakorn Phetcharat said he could still hear sporadic gunshots. He said Thai authorities would move people fleeing into a safer area.

Footage from the Thai border showed Thai soldiers maintaining guard near the bridge with sounds of explosions and gunshots in the background. People with children waded across the river with their belongings and were received by Thai officials on the river bank. Several are seen taking shelter in buildings along the river bank on the Myanmar side.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin wrote on the social media platform X on Saturday that he was closely monitoring the situation at the border.

“I do not desire to see any such clashes have any impact on the territorial integrity of Thailand and we are ready to protect our borders and the safety of our people. At the same time, we are also ready to provide humanitarian assistance if necessary,” he wrote.

In March, Thailand delivered its first batch of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar for about 20,000 displaced people.

Nikorndej Balangura, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Friday that Thailand is currently working to expand its aid initiative.

People cross the Moei river as they flee Myawaddy township in Myanmar to Thailand's Mae Sot town in Thailand's Tak province, Saturday, April 20, 2024. About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted near a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas. (AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)

A Thai military armored vehicle takes a position with sounds of explosions and gunshots along the Moei river, under the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province Saturday, April 20, 2024. About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted near a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas. (AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)

People cross the Moei river as they flee Myawaddy township in Myanmar to Thailand's Mae Sot town in Thailand's Tak province, Saturday, April 20, 2024. More than a thousand people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand on Saturday as fresh fighting erupted near the border of the town that has recently been captured by guerillas from the Karen ethnic minority, officials said.(AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)