Thousands Shelter in Monastery as Myanmar Army Battles Rebels
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Fugitives from the escalating violence gripping northern Myanmar on Tuesday described fleeing airstrikes and gun battles between the army and ethnic rebels, as the country's president vowed "not to lose an inch" of territory.
Clashes between Myanmar's army and Kokang rebels in northeastern Shan state have uprooted tens of thousands in the past week, with Beijing saying it has stepped up its border controls after some 30,000 fled into southwestern Yunnan province.
A monastery in the Shan town of Lashio, some 140 kilometres (85 miles) south of the conflict zone, has become a makeshift shelter for thousands who have fled the violence, most with little more than a few plastic bags of belongings.
Many are temporary workers who have returned to their homes in other parts of Myanmar.
But at least 200 people are seeking refuge in the monastery's cramped dormitary after fleeing intense fighting in the Kokang town of Laukkai, a now near-deserted border town and the epicentre of the fighting.
"We constantly heard the noise of firing -- both from guns and big weapons. It was so loud. Sometimes I thought the bullets were flying by my head," Win Thaung Tun told AFP.
The 28-year-old Mandalay construction worker said he had lived in Laukkai for five years, attracted by the higher wages paid in Chinese currency, before fleeing the town on Friday.
Clashes between the ethnically Chinese Kokang and government forces erupted on February 9, shattering six years of relative calm in the region.
The Myanmar military has launched a counter-offensive against rebels who tried to capture Laukkai in a series of brazen assaults that left nearly 50 government soldiers dead.
Dozens have now been killed on both sides in raging street battles as the military moved to retake the town and flush out rebel holdouts, although ascertaining exact casualty figures is difficult.
