Fall of Myanmar town to rebels sends people fleeing into Thailand [Video]

Hundreds of refugees crossed over the river frontier between Myanmar and Thailand on Friday following the fall of a strategic border town to rebels fighting Myanmar’s military junta.

Some said they feared air strikes by the Myanmar military after the rebel capture of Myawaddy, a town of around 200,000 people lying across the Moei River from the Thai city of Mae Sot.

“That’s why I escaped here. They can’t bomb Thailand,” said one woman, Moe Moe Thet San, a Myawaddy resident who stood in line at a border check-point with dozens of people in the heat. She had crossed the border with her young son.

Thailand’s foreign minister said on Friday his government was preparing for an influx of refugees and he urged the Myanmar junta to scale back the violence.

Thailand was also working with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to revive a stalled peace …