More than 1,200 refugees from Myanmar have crossed the border into Thailand in the last 24 hours due to armed confrontation between government forces and ethnic extremists, reported Newspaper Matichon.
According to the publication, the fighting is taking place on the territory of Myanmar in the area of the border town of Myawaddy, adjacent to Mae Sota in Tak province. Myanmar's armed forces used helicopter gunships and MiG-29 fighter jets to strike the militants.
Television channel Thai PBS reported that the Royal Thai Air Force has sent two F-16 fighter jets to patrol the Thai-Myanmar border in the provinces of Tak and Mae Hong Sleep to prevent the spread of hostilities in Thailand.
Nikondet Phalangkun, director-general of the Department of Information and spokesman for Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Saturday that Thai security authorities are on high alert due to the escalating situation on the Thailand-Myanmar border.
Myanmar's military overthrew the civilian government on February 1, 2021, based on a constitutional clause that made the military its primary guarantor. They accused large-scale fraud in favor of the National League for Democracy in the parliamentary elections in November 2020. The country was plunged into a civil conflict that human rights activists estimate has killed more than 6,000 people. According to the UN, about 2 million residents have been displaced.