Myanmar refugees sent back as clashes continue

Caught in a crossfire: Refugees fleeing clashes between junta troops and ethnic minority rebels preparing to return to Myanmar at a pier in Mae Sot district, Tak province, in Thailand. — Reuters

THE nation has sent over 600 Myanmar refugees who fled fighting between the military and ethnic rebels back across the border, according to a senior Thai official who said clashes were continuing.

Some of the refugees who reached northwest Thailand’s Tak province said before they went back over the frontier on Sunday morning that they had volunteered to return.