Asia Highway closed as Myanmar army, DKBA exchange fire

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Asia Highway closed as Myanmar army, DKBA exchange fire

Thai PBS, 03 Jul 2015

URL: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/asia-highway-closed-as-myanmar-army-dkba-exchange-fire
The Myanmar government temporarily shut down the Asia Highway on Thursday morning, following renewed fighting between government troops and ethnic Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar, The Irrawaddy reported.

Exchanges of fire erupted around 5:30am between the Myanmar army and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), a splinter group born of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the southeastern ethnic state’s dominant rebel force.

A DKBA spokesman Maj Saw Lont Lon said the conflict may have been triggered by increased deployment of government troops near the rebel-held territory, through which the new highway linking central Myanmar with Bangkok was built.

Residents in Kawkareik said the gunfire began early on Thursday morning and could still be heard just before noon.

A commuter bus operator in nearby Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand further down the highway, confirmed that “the highway has been closed since this morning, but the old route on the Dawna mountain range is still open.”