Myanmar junta deepens violence
Violence in eastern Myanmar, including air raids that drove thousands of members of the Karen ethnic minority to seek shelter across the border in Thailand, deepened Tuesday with new air attacks by the military that seized power from an elected government last month.
Thailand’s prime minister denied that his country’s security forces had forced villagers back to Myanmar who had fled from military airstrikes over the weekend, saying they returned home on their own accord.
But the situation in eastern Myanmar appeared to be getting more, not less, dangerous.
Saw Taw Nee, head of the foreign affairs department of the Karen National Union, the main political body representing the Karen minority there, confirmed that new raids Tuesday left six civilians dead and 11 wounded.
Dave Eubank, a member of the Free Burma Rangers, which provides medical assistance to villagers in the region, provided the same information.
The attacks by Myanmar’s military led the KNU to issue a statement from one of its armed units saying that the government’s “military ground troops are advancing into our territories from all fronts,” and vowing to respond.
“We have no other options left but to confront these serious threats posed by the illegitimate military junta’s army in order to defend our territory, our Karen peoples, and their self-determination rights,” said the statement, issued in the name of the KNU office for the district that was first attacked on Saturday.
It said the attacks were the latest in a series of actions by Myanmar’s military breaking a cease-fire agreement.