Myanmar troops retreat to Thai border bridge after days of fighting

Some 200 Myanmar soldiers have withdrawn to the so-called Friendship Bridge connecting the border town of Myawaddy to Thailand amid a relentless assault by anticoup forces.

The retreat is another indication of the rising pressure facing the generals who seized power in a coup in February 2021, and triggered an armed uprising after responding to peaceful anti-coup protests with force.

In a statement on Facebook, the Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that has been leading the attack on Myawaddy, said its forces had defeated the 275 battalion, the remaining major military force in the town, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

It also shared photos of weapons it said it had seized after the soldiers withdrew.

Saw Taw Nee, a KNU spokesperson, meanwhile, said that the soldiers – about 200 of them – had withdrawn to the bridge, while the Myanmar news outlet Khit Thit reported that Thai authorities were in talks with the soldiers to decide whether to grant them refuge.

Myawaddy is a strategically important town just across the border from Thailand’s Mae Sot, and more than $1bn in trade passed through the crossing in the 12 months to April, according to the Myanmar commerce ministry.

Television footage from the Thai side of the border showed plumes of black smoke rising into the air, amid concerns the military would start air attacks.

The generals have been under growing pressure since an October offensive by a powerful alliance of ethnic armed groups reinvigorated the opposition and led to large clashes across the country. The military has lost control of hundreds of military posts and several towns in border areas.

Over the weekend, about 600 Myanmar soldiers and their families fled Myawaddy amid reports the military had requested Thailand to allow them into the country to fly to safety.

At least 2,000 people have been displaced within Myanmar by the latest surge in fighting, according to the civil society group Karen Peace Support Network. Hundreds of people were seen queuing on Wednesday in an attempt to cross into Thailand.

State-run media in Myanmar have not reported on the escalating conflict on the eastern border, and on Thursday the front page of the English-language Global New Light of Myanmar splashed with a large photograph of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing meeting Russian minister Sergei Glazev, and a story on Chinese investment in the garment industry.

On Tuesday, it published photos of new army conscripts starting their training, referring to them as the ‘People’s military servants’.

Citizens face being drafted after the military announced in February that it was activating a long-dormant conscription law.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week accused the military of forcibly recruiting more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslim men and boys from across Rakhine State since February.

“It’s appalling to see Myanmar’s military, which has committed atrocities against the Rohingya for decades while denying them citizenship, now forcing them to fight on its behalf,” Shayna Bauchner, the Asia researcher at HRW said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The junta should immediately end this forced recruitment and permit Rohingya unlawfully conscripted to return home.”