Myanmar junta forced to withdraw from vital trading town after days of clashes

Myanmar junta troops have withdrawn from their positions in a major trade hub near the Thai border following days of clashes, an ethnic armed group said Thursday, in a further blow to the embattled military.

On the border near the vital trading town of Myawaddy, AFP reporters in Thailand heard shelling early Thursday after witnessing hundreds of people queuing the night before to seek safety in the kingdom.

By Thursday afternoon, while the flow into Thailand's Mae Sot town had lessened, people like 26-year-old Sadi were anxiously waiting for relatives.

"I'm just about holding it together," he told AFP, checking his phone again as he explained his fiancee was still in Myanmar.

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 assault 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The remaining 200 or so junta troops in the town had withdrawn from their positions late Wednesday, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesman for the KNU, told AFP.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.

AFP could not independently verify the claim because reporters are not allowed access to Myawaddy, but a Thai border official said the town had "fallen" late Wednesday.

Thai soldiers and armoured cars stood on alert at the border in heat of 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday. AFP reporters there heard a plane flying in the direction of Myawaddy, followed by a thudding sound around 10:30 am local time (0330 GMT).

Residents of Myawaddy told AFP that the military was carrying out air strikes on the town but they had not seen KNU fighters in the streets.

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 junta has not commented on the recent action around the town.

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.