Thais deny army forcing back Myanmar refugees fleeing air strikes

CHIANG MAI (Reuters) -About 2,000 refugees fleeing Myanmar to Thailand had been pushed back despite ongoing aerial bombardment, two activist groups said on Monday, but Thai authorities said the army was taking care of them on the border.

Video showed villagers carrying their belongings boarding boats under the watch of Thai officials. Authorities blocked Reuters reporters from accessing the area.

Thousands fled Myanmar over the weekend after fighter jets attacked villages near the border held by an ethnic armed group that had attacked a military post in the wake of a Feb. 1 coup by Myanmar’s army.

“There’s still fighter jets over the area,” Mark Farmaner, head of Burma Campaign UK, told Reuters.

“Thailand’s heartless and illegal act must stop now,” Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher on Thailand for Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter.

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