Thailand Issues Alert as Intensifying Myanmar Airstrikes Spill Over Border

Thailand issued an urgent order to tighten security across its four western border provinces on Tuesday, one day after a bomb from a Myanmar military airstrike targeting a hospital in Karen National Union (KNU) territory landed on Thai soil.

The strike occurred as Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow prepares to visit Naypyitaw on Wednesday for talks with Myanmar’s new military-led government.

Sihasak will be the first ASEAN leader to visit Myanmar after its transition from a junta to a military-dominated government, following recent elections that

also resulted in coup leader Min Aung Hlaing being installed as president.

While ASEAN has refused to recognize the military-run election, Sihasak’s visit could be seen as tantamount to official acceptance of the new regime by Thailand.

Naypyitaw has remained silent on Monday’s strike. Meanwhile, the Thai Interior Ministry ordered officials in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Tak to tighten security, stay alert for border fighting, and ensure round-the-clock assistance for affected communities.

The order was issued after a regime airstrike on a KNU-run hospital in Oo Mi Hta village, Papun District sent explosions spilling across the border.

“The regime used two fighter jets to drop 10 bombs at around 10.30 am, with two of them reportedly landing on Thai soil,” KNU Brigade 5 spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Saw Kler Doh told The Irrawaddy.

He said the attack resulted in casualties and damage but did not provide details.

Thai media reported that the bombing triggered an urgent evacuation of residents on the Thai side of the Salween River in Mae Hong Son province.

The attack came just one week after an April 12 airstrike on the same hospital damaged the building and injured patients.

Thailand, which shares a 2,400-kilometer border with Myanmar, has suffered five years of conflict spillover since the 2021 coup, even as it remains a major business partner to its neighbour.

Regime forces have been ramping up airstrikes on KNU territory in Papun since April 10, resulting in civilian deaths and destruction of infrastructure, including a college on April 14.

The airstrikes are part of regime push to recapture lost territory and force peace talks through military pressure, the Brigade 5 spokesperson said.

The KNU and allies seized more than 50 military bases and outposts in Papun following the coup.

The regime has launched an offensive with its Karen ethnic allies to regain the lost ground but is being held back by resistance forces at Ka Taing Ti village in Kamamaung Township, 57 kilometers south of Papun.

The Karen Peace Support Network has called on the international community to step up pressure on the regime over the mounting toll of civilian death and destruction from intensifying airstrikes across seven KNU-held districts.