The Myanmar army launched airstrikes on ethnic rebels in Karen State on Sunday (April 10) when new fighting broke out over Lay Kay Kaw near the Thai border, according to a rebel group spokesman and media reports.

Thousands of Lay Kay Kaw residents, about 20 km from the Thai border, fled the city in December, which has become a haven for democracy supporters since the military took over last year.

A spokeswoman for the Karen National Union (KNU), the oldest ethnic rebel group in Myanmar, said the army was apparently consolidating its territory after Sunday's clashes, although it had not received any news of new fighting on Monday.

"They never withdrew. They sent more soldiers," KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw No said, adding that the group's forces had killed 45 soldiers and lost two of them. Public Voice Television, backed by a shadow government formed after the coup, said rebels had detained a Myanmar army captain during the fighting.

Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations, and the military spokesman did not respond to the call.

Lay Kay Kaw came under the KNU's greatest control in recent months, but the military sometimes tried to regain control and fighting broke out in December when soldiers tried to arrest people in the city. .

Sunday's clashes took place after the KNU tried to push army troops into the district, said Padoh Saw Taw.

In response, the Myanmar army carried out raids, say rebels and local media. Residents of Mae Sot, a city on the Thai side of the border, said they heard gunshots and what looked like an explosion.

In December, the KNU called on the international community to establish a no-fly zone in the area to protect citizens.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government last year, sparking a bloody attack on security force protests and the creation of anti-junta militias sometimes linked to ethnic rebels.

(Source: //Reuters)