Myanmar civil war fears growing after airstrikes on ethnic army

Karen refugees are seen at Salween riverbank in Mae Hong Son, Thailand on March 29, 2021. - Reuters

YANGON (Bloomberg): As the death toll among Myanmar’s protesters rose dramatically last weekend, military air strikes against one of the country’s largest rebel groups stoked fears of another problem: Full-fledged civil war.

The Karen National Union, which controls an area in the southeast along the Thai border, confirmed Monday that about 10,000 residents fled to a safe zone last weekend after the Myanmar military conducted air strikes that killed three people. The fighter jets came out in retaliation for an attack by ethnic Karen rebels on a base of the national army, or Tatmadaw, in which 10 soldiers were killed and another eight were arrested.