YANGON: Rebel troops clashed with government soldiers in eastern Myanmar Monday after rare elections, leaving three civilians dead as more than 10,000 fled across the Thai border, officials said.
Fierce fighting between ethnic minority soldiers and government forces in Karen State drove thousands across the border -- mostly women and children -- said Samart Loyfah, the governor of Thailand's Tak province.
"Army, police and civil authorities have prepared an area to accommodate them five kilometres (three miles) from the border," he said.
In Myawaddy, a town in an insurgency-plagued region in southeastern Myanmar, people hid in homes, seeking out buildings with bomb shelters.
One resident said there were so many explosions he could not count them and expressed fears that the conflict could intensify overnight.
"People are running here and there -- it's desperate. We could be killed at anytime, this is very scary," he said.
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