Ethnic Karen soldiers patrol Myanmar army base

Ethnic Karen soldiers patrolled a newly-captured Myanmar army base on the banks of the Salween river which divides Myanmar and Thailand.

Video shared with The Associated Press showed several soldiers from the Karen National Union walking along the riverbank and patrolling on boats on Thursday, a day after the group overran the army base.

A spokesman for the KNU said its armed wing attacked the base at 5am on Wednesday and burned it down just after dawn.

Myanmar's military retaliated by staging airstrikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces.

About 300 villagers fled across the border to the Thai side.

The latest wave of airstrikes increased fears that more villagers will abandon their homes in vulnerable areas, with many likely to try to cross into Thailand.

Fighting between the Karen and the Myanmar military has been intense since Myanmar's elected government leaders were ousted in a military coup on February 1.