Hundreds of civil war victims treated every day as Myanmar chaos spills over Thailand border
Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, a frontier town along the border with Myanmar, is a harrowing window into a civil war that has suddenly escalated.
In the searing heat of early morning, the wards are packed full of patients, some with catastrophic injuries.
We walk into a room full of amputees, many recently injured by airstrikes and landmines.
Lying on a bed with his stomach held together by a bandage, we meet Maung Maung.
His voice is incredibly strained, and he can hardly move. He’s just lost his two daughters. One was two years old, the other 14.
“They were hiding in a school. I thought it would be safe. After the bomb, I saw the body of one of my daughters ripped apart,” he tells us.
Many here say they’re too terrified to return to their home country and that fighting is now a daily threat.
Cordelia Lynch and the clinic’s founder Cynthia Maung (right)
For decades, Dr Cynthia Maung, founder of the clinic in Thailand, has seen the graphic side effects of the world’s longest-running civil war, a brutal clash between Myanmar‘s military and a mix of pro-democracy groups and local ethnic rebel armies.
In recent weeks though, she says the number of patients coming to her almost doubled to 500 a day.
“This is the worst in my time in 35 years here. This is the worst situation,” says Dr Maung.
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Eyewitness: Myanmar fighting intensifies
As we talk, there are patients of all ages. She is their great hope, but she’s juggling increasingly complex and desperate cases.
There’s recently been a sharp increase in those coming here wounded by bombs.
The embattled ruling junta has increasingly been carrying out airstrikes in the face of big losses. The resistance now controls more than half of Myanmar’s territory.
One of the most symbolic defeats came two weeks ago in Myawaddy. The small town has an outsized economic role, known as the so-called “gateway to Thailand”.
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Eyewitness: Myanmar fighting intensifies
It has long been a focal point for many of the ethnic and pro-democracy groups, but rarely looked vulnerable.
Yet two weeks ago, rebel forces led by the Karen ethnic army made their move, stunning observers by taking the town.
Social media videos show the military seemingly launching an operation to retake it – but their convoy is ambushed, resistance fighters taking over their vehicles and sending them fleeing.
At the top of a hill on the Thai side of the border, the army is watching everything closely. There’s a nervousness and tension that hasn’t been there since the coup in 2021.
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Sub-Lieutenant Chuchat Farangtong tells me: “I felt the resistance groups were well prepared.
“There were signs before they attacked. My unit could see their manpower and their weapons. And there were civilians waiting along the river getting ready to cross over.”
Now it seems control of the town could be shifting once again, with video emerging on Tuesday of a Junta soldier from 275th Battalion in Myawaddy raising their flag. Reports say fighters of the KNA faction, a Border Guard Force, allowed them through to re-establish control. We may well see more clashes ahead.
In the past few days alone, thousands have fled the fighting in Myanmar, many running away from conscription driven by a military desperately in need of more men.
Among them is 19-year-old Nyi Nyi, now in hiding in Thailand after secretly crossing the border – a terrifying journey that took three days.
“When I was fleeing, most of my friends got arrested by the military,” he says.
“They were interrogated and tortured. They trained them for just three weeks and then sent them to the frontline.”
Thai patrols are taking place on the border with Myanmar
He claims opponents are being brutally attacked by a military desperate to cling to power: “They starve opponents, put them in stress positions and beat them until they bleed from their ears.”
We asked the ruling junta about his allegations. They did not respond to our request for comment.
Myanmar’s military government has been losing ground in its borderlands for months, as pro-democracy militias and ethnic armed groups have launched a series of successful offensives.
That’s been made possible by previously disparate groups coming together.
It is unlikely the ruling military government is at risk of being overthrown imminently, but we haven’t seen a shift like this for years.
That’s a challenge for neighbouring countries trying to navigate their relationship with Myanmar, the creeping violence on the border areas and the exodus of Myanmar’s people.
Lieutenant Sivadumrong; police seem to be trying to play the role of protector and enforcer
We went on patrol with the Thai police who seem to be trying to play the role of protector and enforcer, helping some find refuge and detaining others.
They tell us they’ve arrested up to 30 people trying to cross illegally into Thailand every day.
“I’m worried that the bullets are flying to the Thai side,” Lieutenant Manop Sivadumrong says.
“So, we’ve deployed border police and provincial police along the border to prevent illegal migrants and to help the Myanmar people on both sides in case they are injured.”
It is a delicate balance for them and many other countries – one by-product of a conflict many have ignored.
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But the international community is slowly waking up.
China, the US, and Thailand are reassessing their strategies. Whatever happens next, the future of Myanmar will probably remain splintered, with no one authority in charge.
And a splintered state will likely reap havoc on innocent civilians and continue to spill across national borders.
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Update given on health condition of Slovakia’s PM – as suspect in court over attempted assassination
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in a stable but serious condition as the man accused of attempting to assassinate him appeared in court for the first time.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova said further two-hour surgery on Friday “contributed to a positive prognosis” for the 59-year-old, who was shot five times at point blank range while greeting supporters in the former mining town of Handlova on Wednesday.
Pic: AP
However, although awake at the hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Mr Fico was taken by helicopter after being shot, his condition still made it impossible to transport him to the capital, Bratislava.
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Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak has said there was no need to formally take over Mr Fico’s official duties.
The suspected gunman was tackled to the ground and arrested at the scene of the attack and the first assassination attempt of a European political leader for more than 20 years.
He has previously been named as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a former shopping centre security guard who also writes poetry.
The special criminal court in Pezinok, a small town outside the capital, Bratislava, was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons for his court appearance.
The media were kept at a distance. Pic: AP
News media were not allowed in for the hearing and reporters were kept behind a gate outside.
Officers had taken the suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, to his home in the town of Levice on Friday and seized a computer and some documents, according to local media.
The attack sent shockwaves throughout Europe and raised concerns over the already polarised and febrile political situation in Slovakia.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova gave the latest update on the PM’s condition. Pic: Reuters
Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure.
His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American ticket fuelled worries among fellow EU and NATO members over the country’s direction.
Slovakia had previously been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, but on taking office Mr Fico halted arms supplies to the nation battling invading Russian forces.
Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest against his policies.
The bodies of three Israeli hostage taken by Hamas have been recovered in Gaza.
The remains were discovered in an overnight operation carried out by Israel’s military and intelligence agency Shin Bet, said chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22, were killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October, with their bodies then taken into Gaza by Hamas militants.
Ms Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.
Israel-Gaza war latest updates
Shani Louk
Itzhak Gelerenter
Amit Buskila
“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” said Mr Hagari.
He said their families have been notified.
“Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.”
The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.
Ms Louk’s father has said the return of his daughter’s body to her family has been a form of closure.
Nissim Louk told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz his daughter “radiated light, to her and those who surrounded her, and in her death she still does”.
He added: “She is a symbol of the people of Israel, between light and darkness. Her inner and outer beauty that shone for all the world to see is a special one.”
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In November, the brother of Ms Louk told Sky News of their last phone call as his sister tried to escape Hamas.
Speaking about the video that was circulated online after she was taken, Amit Louk said: “I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position.
“And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking”, saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Meanwhile, Professor Hagai Levine, a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has said the recovery of the bodies is a “painful reminder” of those who are still in captivity.
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“We do not lose hope. We are preparing for the return of the hostages that are alive,” he added.
Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the 7 October attack.
Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a ceasefire in November.
Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
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Gaza situation ‘a complete disaster’
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back.
He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas.
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