Myanmar border clashes injure Thai woman and force villagers to flee

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Fighting in Myanmar’s Karen State sends mortar rounds into Tak’s Mae Sot district, injuring a 55-year-old woman and prompting evacuations in Thai border villages.

TAK, Thailand – Clashes between Myanmar military forces and armed opposition groups intensified along the Thai border on Thursday, sending stray explosives into Thai territory, injuring a local woman, and forcing residents to evacuate. Myanmar troops launched an offensive at around 05:00 a.m. local time  to push opposition forces out of Min La Pan village in Myawaddy township, Karen State, located directly across the Moei River from Thailand’s Tak province.

During the fighting, heavy artillery shells and mortar rounds crossed the border into the Thai villages in Mae Sot district. A 60mm mortar round hit a residential home, injuring a 55-year-old woman, who was taken to Mae Sot Hospital for shrapnel wounds. Following the explosions, residents across the affected Thai border villages fled to temporary safety zones. Thai military forces, border patrol police, and local security officers have increased patrols and deployed forces along the border to safeguard Thai sovereignty as fighting continues across the river. (TNA)