TAK — Thai soldiers fired a warning shot toward Myanmar on Saturday after a mortar shell from clashes across the border landed in a Thai village, damaging several homes and prompting more than 100 people from Myanmar to flee into Thailand, officials said.
Lt. Gen. Woratep Bunya, commander of Thailand’s Third Army Region, said he was alerted around 3 p.m. on November 22 that a mortar round from fighting between Myanmar’s military and resistance forces had struck Ban Ta Yai in Mae Sot district, Tak province. After receiving approval from the army chief, Thai forces fired a single smoke round back toward Myanmar as a warning.
The mortar, believed to be 60mm, landed in a vegetable garden in Ban Mai Mae Kon Ken village, about a kilometer from the fighting in Myanmar’s Kayin State. The blast damaged four homes, shattered windows, tore holes in fences, cut power lines and sent shrapnel into a pickup truck, authorities said. No injuries were reported.
Thai officials contacted their Myanmar counterparts through the provincial Thai-Myanmar Border Committee, urging them to prevent any projectiles from crossing into Thailand.
Tak Governor Chusak Ruyeing and security forces inspected the border area Saturday as artillery and machine-gun fire continued on the Myanmar side. Thai troops have been reinforced along the frontier opposite the combat zone in Myawaddy township.
Woratep said 125 people from Myanmar have crossed into Mae Sot to escape the fighting, where officials are providing humanitarian assistance. Thai forces remain on high alert as the situation continues to unfold.
________
