BANGKOK: More than 500 civilians and soldiers fled conflict in Myanmar and crossed into Thailand on Saturday after an assault by ethnic fighters on a military base, the Thai army said.

Myanmar has been mired in civil conflict since a military coup in 2021, with the junta battling a coalition of ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy resistance forces.

Saturday’s attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) targeted a military base in Kayin state at around 3pm local time, Thailand’s military said in a statement.

One hundred Myanmar soldiers and 467 civilians had crossed into Thailand on Saturday, where Thai military and police disarmed them and provided treatment and humanitarian aid, officials said.

Three kids among 22 civilians killed in monastery bombing

Saw Thamain Tun, a leader of the KNLA’s political wing, confirmed there had been fighting near the border and said that joint forces had “seized some front posts” from the army.

“Some (Myanmar troops) defe­c­ted to our joint forces, but some of them ran into Thailand,” he said.

Myanmar’s civil war has caused huge waves of population displacement, with 81,000 refugees or asylum-seekers from the country currently living in Thailand, according to United Nations figures.

Strike on Buddhist monastery

More than 20 civilians, including children, were killed after an air strike on a monastery in central Myanmar, an anti-junta fighter and a resident said on Saturday.

Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021, and central Sagaing region has been particularly hard-hit, with the junta pummelling villages with air strikes targeting armed groups.

The most recent occurred around 1am on Friday in Lin Ta Lu village when “the monastery hall where internally displaced people were staying” was hit with an air strike, said an anti-junta fighter, requesting anonymity.

He said that 22 people were killed, including three children, while two were wounded and remained in critical condition at the hospital.

“They had thought it was safe to stay at a Buddhist monastery,” the anti-junta fighter said. “But they were bombed anyway.”

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2025