MAE TOT – Tensions boiled over along the Mae Sot border. Myanmar soldiers from the 22nd Infantry Division launched heavy attacks on Karen National Union (KNU) fighters. The fighting raged all day on March 31 near Min La Paing village in Myawaddy Township, Karen State.
This spot sits right across from Mae Kon Ken and Huai Maha Wong villages in Tak Province’s Mae Sot District.
Both sides fired rifles, machine guns, and heavy weapons from morning until evening. Myanmar troops especially hammered away with 120mm and 81mm mortars. Stray bullets and shells kept crossing the Moei River into Thailand. As a result, nine homes took hits: four in the morning, five more that afternoon.
Four Myanmar nationals living on the Thai side got hurt. Two people face serious injuries. First, 11-year-old Myu Mi suffered shrapnel wounds to her right hip and other spots on her body. Next, 7-year-old A Phu took bad hits to her left thigh and both arms, with fragments stuck inside. Then, 13-year-old Yu Yu got hurt on her right lower back. Finally, 48-year-old Ma Ae caught shrapnel in her right calf.
Morning damage hit four homes in Village 9, Mae Kon Ken, Mahawan Subdistrict. Bullets pierced the roof of 67-year-old Hom’s house, going through to the ceiling. San’s place, 52, saw similar roof and wall damage. Li, 61, and Ko, 71, had bullets rip through roofs, walls, and kitchen items.
Afternoon fighting stayed intense. Machine gun fire and 81mm mortar rounds echoed. One mortar landed about 200 meters from the river, inside Thailand. That’s what injured the four people.
Mahawan Subdistrict headman Manthri Suksat told reporters the clashes go on nonstop, 24 hours a day. They hit Village 9 hardest, right by the Moei River. Around 400 homes sat in the line of fire. So, villagers moved to safer spots with relatives.
Local officials, troops from the Ra Chom Nuu Task Force, and Border Patrol Police Company 346 now patrol risky areas together.
Rescuers rushed the injured to a local health station, then to Mae Sot Hospital for urgent care. Colonel Chonkan Saensorn, Ra Chom Nuu commander, visited the scene. Thai forces fired four 120mm warning rounds back across the border.
They aim to stop any more stray fire. The commander notified Thai-Myanmar border coordinators, too. Everyone wants the fighting pushed farther away to spare Thailand.
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