Myanmar Civil War Fears Growing After Airstrikes

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.

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. Terrorist military junta attacked KNU brigade No.5 area by airstrikes and a house was burnt down by this attack. There were also death and injuries of the villagers. They are committing the atrocities around the country. They must be held accountable for what they have done! pic.twitter.com/UiftsJpQKA 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. The attacks came on the same day at least 114 people were killed in clashes with the military and police in the deadliest weekend since the Feb. 1 coup, sparking condemnation from governments around the world. With the death toll now exceeding 500 over the past two months, the prospect of a wider fight with potentially dozens of armed militias risks even more bloodshed. "There is a distinct possibility of mass demonstrations cascading into civil war or inter-state war," said Lee Morgenbesser, a lecturer at Australia's Griffith University whose researches Southeast Asian politics. "Given the sometimes porous nature of Myanmar's borders, along with the fact that the armed ethnic groups are not subject to state authority, it is likely that the crisis spills across international borders."