Ethnic Karen Flee Fighting Into Thailand

More than 4,000 ethnic Karen many of them children have been forced to abandon camps and villages in eastern Myanmar and seek refuge in temporary shelters in Thailand following government attacks.
The ethnic group's Karen National Union has been fighting for more than 60 years for greater autonomy from Myanmar's military government, but its strength has dwindled over the past decade due to army offensives and divisions within its ranks.
Some 100,000 mostly ethnic Karen refugees already shelter in camps in Thailand after fleeing counter-insurgency operations, while aid agencies say nearly half a million others are internally displaced inside eastern Myanmar.
Myanmar troops were shelling and attempting to advance on five encampments of Karen insurgents while groups of villagers continued to flee in one of the largest movements of refugees across the border in a decade.