Fighting between ethnic minority rebels and Burmese government troops has sent at least 10,000 refugees across the border into Thailand after a widely criticised election that is expected to usher in a parliament sympathetic to the military regime.
Fighting raged today at key points on the border with Thailand, leaving at least 10 people wounded on both sides.
In the heaviest clashes, Karen rebels reportedly seized a police station and post office on Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy.
Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon. More fighting broke out further south for an hour at the Three Pagodas Pass, said local Thai official Chamras Jungnoi, but there was no word on any casualties.
Groups from Burma's ethnic minorities, who make up some 40% of the population, had warned in recent days that civil war could erupt if the military tries to impose its highly centralised constitution and deprive them of rights.
"There have been at least 10,000 refugees who have fled to Thailand," said Colonel Wannatip Wongwai, commander of Thailand's Third Army Region responsible for security in the area. He said Burmese government troops appeared to have retaken control of Myawaddy and the rebels of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army held a few positions on the outskirts of the town.
"As soon as the situation is under control, we will start sending the refugees back to Myawaddy," he said.
Samard Loyfar, governor of Thailand's Tak province, opposite Myawaddy, said the UN was helping care for 10,000 refugees being sheltered at a makeshift camp.
Burma's secretive government has billed Sunday's poll as a step toward democracy, but most observers have rejected it as a sham engineered to solidify military control.
