Post-election violence sees thousands flee Burma

Fighting between ethnic rebels and Burmese government troops has sent at least 10,000 refugees fleeing into Thailand just after a widely criticised election expected to usher in a parliament sympathetic to the military regime.

Fighting raged yesterday at key border points, wounding at least ten people on both sides of the frontier as stray shots fell into Thailand.

In the heaviest clashes, ethnic Karen rebels reportedly seized a police station and post office on Sunday in the Burmese border town of Myawaddy. Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon. More fighting broke out further south for an hour at the Three Pagodas Pass, said local Thai official Chamras Jungnoi, but there was no word on any casualties.

Thai officials said last night that fighting had died down, and government troops had regained control of Myawaddy.

It was the biggest one-day tide of refugees to flee into Thailand in recent years, with people continuing to arrive into the evening. Some estimates put their number closer to 20,000.

Groups representing ethnic minorities who make up about 40 per cent of the population had warned in recent days that civil war could erupt if the military tries to impose its highly centralised constitution and deprive them of rights.

The fighting threatened to overshadow electoral developments, which include mounting anger on the part of anti-government parties over what they charge was blatant cheating on behalf of the military's chosen candidates.