BANGKOK: A group of Myanmar soldiers fled across the Thai border on Friday after an assault by an ethnic armed group ousted them from their base, Thailand’s military said.
Myanmar has been riven by civil war after the military seized power in a 2021 coup, with the junta fighting an array of armed ethnic organizations and pro-democracy partisans.
Fighters from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) attacked the Pulu Tu frontier military base in the early hours of Friday, the Thai military said.
“The Myanmar military defended the base but ultimately the KNLA successfully seized control,” it said in a statement.
“Several Myanmar soldiers were killed and some fled across the border into Thailand.”
The statement did not specify how many Myanmar soldiers had crossed the border into Thailand’s Tak province but said they had been “provided humanitarian assistance.”
KNLA forces seized the base around 3:00 am (2030 GMT Thursday), according to a spokesman for the organization’s political wing, the Karen National Union.
The KNLA fighters took the base after Myanmar troops “abandoned their guns and ran into Thailand,” it said.
A spokesman for the Myanmar junta could not be reached for comment.
The Pulu Tu base is around 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the border town of Myawaddy, a vital trade node that became a battleground between anti-junta fighters and the military last year.
The region is also the epicenter of the scam-center boom in Myanmar, where thousands of foreign nationals trawl the Internet for victims to trick with romance or investment schemes.
Many workers say they were trafficked into the centers and thousands have been repatriated through Thailand in recent weeks under mounting international pressure.
The KNLA has been fighting for decades to establish greater autonomy for the Karen people living along Myanmar’s southeastern flank.
It is among dozens of ethnic armed organizations, already active before the coup, which have proved the most effective fighting forces against the junta.
While the military has suffered substantial territorial losses, analysts say it remains strong in Myanmar’s heartland, with an air force capable of inflicting punishing losses on its adversaries.
The junta issued a conscription order a year ago to boost its embattled ranks, allowing it to call up all men aged 18-35 for military service.
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Myanmar troops under armed attack flee across border: Thai military
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Myanmar troops under armed attack flee across border: Thai military
- A group of Myanmar soldiers fled across the Thai border on Friday after an assault by an ethnic armed group ousted them from their base, Thailand’s military said
Philippine volcano eruption sends ash 2.5 kilometers into sky
- Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century
- A 1996 blast killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time
MANILA: A volcano erupted in the central Philippines on Thursday evening, sending a billowing plume of ash about 2,500 meters (1.5 miles) into the nighttime sky.
The two-minute eruption began at 7:04 p.m. (1104 GMT), state volcanology agency director Teresito Bacolcol said, saying “there might be a bigger explosive eruption in the next few days.”
Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century — including a 1996 blast that killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time.
“This is the second moderate eruption in a week,” Bacolcol said in a phone interview, adding his agency would monitor the volcano for 24 hours before deciding if it should raise the alert level from two to three on its five-point scale.
“This event generated a plume that rose 2,500 meters above the crater before drifting southwest. Incandescent ballistics were observed to have rained around the crater,” the volcanology center said in a statement released minutes later.
John De Asis, a rescuer in the nearby town of La Castellana, said that ash had begun to descend on local neighborhoods.
“Tonight, we heard a sudden, loud boom, then after a few minutes, people started reporting that there was ashfall in their areas,” he said, noting that rescue personnel were handing out facemasks.
Bacolcol said it was possible that “gas pressure had built up at the vent” of the volcano. He said recent low sulfur dioxide emissions suggested a potential blockage that would have caused pressure to build.
The volcano, which straddles Negros Oriental and Occidental provinces, currently has a four-kilometer exclusion zone in place.
The Philippines is on the seismically active region of the Pacific known as the “Ring of Fire,” where more than half the world’s volcanoes are located.
The most powerful volcanic explosion in the Philippines in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
The two-minute eruption began at 7:04 p.m. (1104 GMT), state volcanology agency director Teresito Bacolcol said, saying “there might be a bigger explosive eruption in the next few days.”
Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century — including a 1996 blast that killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time.
“This is the second moderate eruption in a week,” Bacolcol said in a phone interview, adding his agency would monitor the volcano for 24 hours before deciding if it should raise the alert level from two to three on its five-point scale.
“This event generated a plume that rose 2,500 meters above the crater before drifting southwest. Incandescent ballistics were observed to have rained around the crater,” the volcanology center said in a statement released minutes later.
John De Asis, a rescuer in the nearby town of La Castellana, said that ash had begun to descend on local neighborhoods.
“Tonight, we heard a sudden, loud boom, then after a few minutes, people started reporting that there was ashfall in their areas,” he said, noting that rescue personnel were handing out facemasks.
Bacolcol said it was possible that “gas pressure had built up at the vent” of the volcano. He said recent low sulfur dioxide emissions suggested a potential blockage that would have caused pressure to build.
The volcano, which straddles Negros Oriental and Occidental provinces, currently has a four-kilometer exclusion zone in place.
The Philippines is on the seismically active region of the Pacific known as the “Ring of Fire,” where more than half the world’s volcanoes are located.
The most powerful volcanic explosion in the Philippines in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
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