Col. Padung Yingpaiboonsuk, commander of a Special Task Force of the 34th Infantry Regiment, said the fighting broke out at about 11 am Monday morning when more than 200 Myanmar soldiers and DKBA guerrillas jointly attacked a KNU base in Myanmar, opposite a Thai border village in Phop Phra district of Tak province.

Three Thais wounded after Myanmar border fighting
TAK, April 27 (TNA) — Two Thai soldiers and a villager were wounded Monday while some 200 villagers were evacuated to a Buddhist temple after fierce fighting between Myanmar Army troops and the Myanmar-based Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) against Karen National Union (KNU) guerrillas broke out opposite a Thai border village, a senior Thai army officer said.

Col. Padung Yingpaiboonsuk, commander of a Special Task Force of the 34th Infantry Regiment, said the fighting broke out at about 11 am Monday morning when more than 200 Myanmar soldiers and DKBA guerrillas jointly attacked a KNU base in Myanmar, opposite a Thai border village in Phop Phra district of Tak province.

The situation worsened when at least three mortar shells landed on Thai soil and a group of Myanmar soldiers of undetermined size clashed with Thai soldiers on patrol near the border, he said.

Two Thai soldiers were shot and wounded while a Thai villager suffered injuries from a strayed shell, said Col. Padung.

He said the condition of the two wounded soldiers were now out of danger while Thai troops were reinforced along the common border to prevent an intrusion of Thai territory.

About 200 Thai villagers living near the scene of fighting were temporarily evacuated to a Buddhist temple in Phop Phra district, said Col. Padung. They are expected to return home when the situation has returned to normal. (TNA)