MAE SOT: Myanmar junta forces have withdrawn from their positions in a major trade hub near the Thai border following days of intense clashes, an ethnic armed group said Thursday, in a further blow to the embattled military, AFP reported.
On the border near the crucial trading town of Myawaddy, shelling was heard early Thursday after witnessing hundreds of people queuing the night before to seek safety in Thailand.
The country has been roiled with conflict since the army overthrew a democratically elected government in 2021, but the junta is facing its gravest threat yet after heavy losses in recent months.
Karen National Union (KNU) fighters and other anti-junta groups launched an attack on Myawaddy town this week.
Myawaddy is an important possession for the cash-strapped junta, with more than $1.1 billion worth of trade passing through it in the 12 months to April, according to the junta’s commerce ministry.
The remaining 200 or so junta troops in the town had withdrawn from their positions late Wednesday, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesman for the KNU, told AFP.
The troops were now sheltering on a bridge that connects Myawaddy to the Thai border town of Mae Sot, he said, claiming the KNU was now in control of the whole town.
The complete capture of the town would be a humiliating defeat for the junta, which has suffered a string of battlefield losses in recent months.
The Myanmar junta was sending reinforcements towards Myawaddy, military sources told AFP on Thursday, although it was unclear when or how they would arrive because some routes to the town are in the hands of its opponents.
The military is anxious to avoid losing another major town, analysts say, after the humiliating surrender of around 2,000 troops at the town of Laukkai on the northern border with China in January.
