Local residents from near to Thay Baw Bo Camp in Karen State’s Myawaddy District who were forced to flee fighting cannot yet return from Thailand to their villages because they fear further fighting.

Thay Baw Bo Camp is in Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 6 territory near the Thai-Myanmar border south of Myawaddy Township, in Karen (Kayin) State.

The strategically important camp had been in army hands since it captured it from the KNU in 1990.

But, on 18 May a combined force from The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the Karen National Defence Organization (KNDO) and PDF-Myawaddy attacked and seized the camp killing five soldiers, including the battalion commander, and arresting seven others.

After the combined forces took the camp junta forces launched attacks in the area. They used helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft to bomb four villages in the area of the camp, including Thay Baw Bo Village, more than 30 times.

The bombings caused villagers from the four villages to flee to refugee camps along the Thaung Yin River just across the border in Thailand.

Because there are still patrols by junta reconnaissance aircraft in the area of Thay Baw Bo camp local residents are too scared to return to their homes in Myanmar in case the junta launch airstrikes against them.

“We don’t dare go back now. Something used to fly over the village, I don’t know if it was a plane or a drone. Junta soldiers are also joining forces with Border Guard Forces (BGF). Nothing is more important than life, so we are going to wait and stay in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border for a while”, said a woman from the area of Thay Baw Bo, who had fled to Thailand because of the fighting.

There has been intense fighting between the KNU and junta troops in the area since junta troops invaded the village of Lay Kay Kaw (Myothit), in Myawaddy Township, on 15 December 2021.

This fighting has caused more than 20,000 locals to flee their homes and seek refuge in seven IDP camps along the Thaung Yin River on the Thai side of the border just across from Myanmar.