Myanmar's military deployed combat aircraft to bomb Karen resistance positions along the Thailand border on April 26, killing multiple fighters and civilians as the country's civil war threatens to spill across international boundaries.
YAX-130 and Y-12 aircraft conducted five bombing runs targeting areas around Ticha Lae camp, the largest Myanmar military base in Phop Phra District, Tak Province, according to Amarin TV. The strikes came after Karen National Union (KNU) forces seized control of the Myanmar army camp following a week of sustained attacks.
The airstrikes resulted in heavy casualties among KNU soldiers and injured Karen civilians, underscoring the brutal calculus of Myanmar's three-year civil war. The military junta, facing battlefield losses across multiple fronts, has increasingly relied on air power—its sole remaining advantage over resistance forces.
On the Thai side, military units reinforced positions along the border "to safeguard national sovereignty and ensure the safety of local residents," Thai officials stated. The deployment reflects Bangkok's growing concern that Myanmar's conflict could directly threaten Thai territory.
Ticha Lae camp sits opposite North and South Wale villages in Wale Subdistrict, making it a flashpoint where local populations on both sides face crossfire. The area hosts not only KNU forces but also the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO) and People's Defense Force (PDF)—part of the broad coalition resisting military rule.
The violence highlights ASEAN's complete failure to address the crisis. Nearly three years after Myanmar's February 2021 coup, the regional bloc's Five-Point Consensus remains unimplemented, with junta leaders ignoring calls for dialogue while systematically bombing civilian areas.
For Thailand, the stakes are immediate. The country already hosts over 90,000 registered Myanmar refugees, with thousands more crossing informally. Each escalation near the border forces Thai authorities to balance humanitarian concerns against fears of being drawn into a neighboring conflict.
Ten countries, 700 million people, one region—and Myanmar's civil war is becoming everyone's problem, whether ASEAN leaders acknowledge it or not.
