Over 600 evacuated as Myanmar military fights anti-coup forces

Hundreds of Myanmar families were being uprooted from their homes on Saturday, a community organiser said, piling their belongings onto evacuation convoys to escape fighting between the military and anti-coup guerillas.

Myanmar has been consumed by a many-sided civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, leaving more than 3.5 million people displaced, according to UN figures.

Heavy combat has been raging since Monday around the village of Saung Nang Khae in the eastern state of Shan, according to locals and evacuation organisers.

Ramshackle convoys of tractors were piled with livestock, wheelchairs and suitcases on Friday as they hauled local families to temporary shelter in the village of BC Kone, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest.

On Saturday, Khun Pyae Linn, the spokesman of the youth wing of the Kayan New Land Party which controls the enclave and which organised evacuation efforts, said “rescue operations are still ongoing”.

“We evacuated more than 600 people but there were other organisations that helped villagers too. So it could be over 1,500 villagers that were moved to safe shelters,” he added.