Thousands of locals in Kayin State’s Kawkareik Township have fled to safer locations as a military column has been raiding some villages near Kyaikdon town since November 2. 

A 100-strong military contingent stormed at least 10 villages in Kyaikdon town at around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, forcing as many as 5,000 local people to flee, said a resident of Kyaikdon. 

“Myanmar military troops raided 10 villages and almost all residents in some villages fled to safer locations,” the Kyaikdon resident added. 

More than 5,000 locals fled to the towns of Mawlamyine, Hpa-an and Mudon, and villages on the Myanmar-Thai border, due to the military raids, according to aid workers. 

“Some dwellers in downtown Kyaikdon went into hiding in Mawlamyine, Mudon and Hpa-an, while other people fled to villages on the Myanmar-Thai border,” said an aid worker. 

Among the residents who fled to the border villages, the majority were children, pregnant women and the elderly, and the necessary food and shelter have been provided to them, according to relief workers. 

“Among the displaced people are children and pregnant women, and they were accommodated at the village’s monastery. Thai military officials deported some [displaced people] back to Myanmar,” said an aid worker in Paikhalan Village. 

An anti-junta coalition led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), captured Kyaikdon police station on October 28 after an hour-long clash with the military, KNLA Brigade 6 said in a statement. 

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Major-General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military junta, regarding the military’s raid on Kyaikdon town and surrounding villages. 

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by fighting between junta troops and anti-regime forces led by the KNLA in Kayin State since the military’s coup in February 2021. 

At least 300 civilians were killed and over 1,500 injured by junta airstrikes and shellings in Kayin State, according to figures compiled by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG).