About 200 flee Myanmar to Thailand

BANGKOK: Around 200 ethnic Karen people fled fighting in Myanmar and crossed the border into Thailand, Thai border officials said Saturday.

Fighting has been raging in Myanmar´s eastern Karen state, which borders Thailand, with local ethnic militias battling the military junta that seized power in a 2021 coup. Four years of conflict across Myanmar have spurred mass displacement, driving tens of thousands across the border into neighbouring Thailand.

About 200 ethnic Karen people fled to the kingdom on Friday and Saturday due to bombing and civil unrest a few kilometres from the border on the Myanmar side, Major General Maitree Chupreecha, commander of the Thai military´s Naresuan Force border unit, told AFP.

The people there were frightened by a drone bombing operation targeting military troops, he said, leading some to cross the Moei border river to Tak province.