More than 100 Thais were evacuated from Phop Phra district bordering Burma yesterday after Burmese troops sealed off and attacked a Karen stronghold. A resident of Ban Padi said he heard gunfire from 5am. The battleground was opposite the village, just across Padi stream, he said.

Thai soldiers and rangers provided safety for the evacuees and stood by to prevent any intrusion by foreign troops.

A ranger said about 100 Burmese soldiers from the 409th Light Infantry Regiment joined the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’s (DKBA) 907th Battalion. The joint force sealed off and attacked the Karen National Union (KNU) at Valeki, opposite Ban Padi.

The source said the KNU’s 102nd Battalion were out-gunned by the joint force, which had more manpower and weapons. One KNU soldier died and two others were injured, he said. Burmese casualties were not known.

Later in the day, Col Nerda Mya led KNU forces in a counter-strike against the joint force from behind, hoping to reclaim their stronghold.

Meanwhile, 23 Burmese petitioned staff of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the province, claiming they had not been registered as refugees and received no food or aid in the two years since the UNHCR’s Bangkok office sent them to Mae La refugee camp in Tha Song Yang district.

Thet Oo, 25, said: ‘’Our group of 100 Burmese stay in a refugee camp but have not received any food or basic necessities because we have not been registered as refugees. We have made a living as hired labourers.'’

An official in Tak said the group were illegal immigrants travelling to Thailand to work as illegal workers in Bangkok and other provinces.

The government wants Burmese who were given UNHCR registration slips and People of Concern status to stay in a refugee camp, pending the provincial administration board’s decision on whether to grant them ‘’asylum seeker'’ status.