Myanmar airstrikes cause thousands to flee across Thailand border | Global development

A series of airstrikes by Myanmar’s military has driven thousands of people across the country’s border with Thailand, adding a new dimension to an already volatile and deadly crisis.

The strikes in areas populated predominantly by ethnic Karen people began on Saturday. Since then an estimated 3,000 villagers have fled across the Salween River into Thailand and an unknown number have become internally displaced in the jungles on the Myanmar side of the river.

“There were big explosions, and many houses and buildings burned down,” said Naw Wah Khu Shee, the director of Karen Peace Support Network. She said at least three people were killed in Saturday’s strikes, including one girl aged seven or eight, and eight were badly injured.

The government has battled Karen fighters on and off…