Ethnic minority Karen insurgents attacked a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border on Tuesday in some of the most intense clashes since a military coup nearly three months ago threw the country into crisis.

The Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest rebel force, said it had captured the army camp on the west bank of the Salween river, which forms the border with Thailand.

The Myanmar military later hit back against the insurgents with air strikes, an aid worker in the area said.

The fighting took place as the junta, in a setback for diplomatic efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it would “positively” consider the bloc’s suggestions to end the turmoil in Mynamar but only when stability was restored.

The ASEAN leaders said after meeting at the weekend they had reached a consensus with the junta on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the rival Myanmar sides.

The outbreak of hostilities in the border area for just now shifted the focus of opposition to the junta away from the pro-democracy protests that have taken place in cities and towns across the country since the coup on Feb.1.

The military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, detained her and other civilian politicians, then cracked down with lethal force on anti-coup protesters.

Security forces have killed more than 750 civilians in the demonstrations, an activist group says.

The Karen and other ethnic minority forces based in frontier regions have supported the largely urban-based pro-democracy opponents of the junta.

PRE-DAWN ATTACK

In Tuesday’s fighting, villagers on the Thai side of the river said heavy gunfire started before sunrise. Video posted on social media showed flames and smoke on the forested hillside.

KNU forces captured the outpost at around 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. (2230 to 2330 GMT), the group’s head of foreign affairs, Saw Taw Nee, told Reuters.

The camp had been occupied and burned down and the group was still checking on casualties. Fighting had also taken place elsewhere, he said, without giving details.

The Karen Information Center said the army base had been overrun and villagers had seen seven soldiers running away.

The military later mounted air strikes, an aid worker monitoring the fighting and the Irrawaddy news site reported. There was no word on casualties and the villagers in Thailand were moving away from the border to safety, the Irrawaddy said.

The Myanmar army made no comment. It has historically portrayed itself as the one institution that can keep together the ethnically diverse country of more than 53 million people.

The KNU agreed to a ceasefire in 2012, ending its struggle for autonomy that began shortly after Myanmar’s independence from Britain in 1948.

But its forces have clashed with the army since it seized power, ending a decade of democratic reforms that had also brought relative peace to Myanmar’s borderlands.

Fighting has also flared in the north and west, where the Irrawaddy reported 13 government soldiers were killed in clashes over the past few days.

About 24,000 people are sheltering in the jungle after being displaced in recent weeks by violence near the Thai border, including military air strikes, Karen groups say.

‘CAREFUL CONSIDERATION’

Elsewhere in Myanmar, there have been few reports of bloodshed since the weekend meeting between the junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and Southeast Asian leaders to try to find a way out of the crisis.

The junta, in its first official comment on the meeting, said it would give “careful consideration to constructive suggestions … when the situation returns to stability”.

The suggestions would be “positively considered” if they facilitated the junta’s own “roadmap”, and “serves the interests of the country and was based on purposes and principles enshrined in” ASEAN, it said in a statement.

The junta did not refer to one of ASEAN’s long-held principles, that of non-interference in each other’s affairs.

After the meeting, ASEAN issued a five-point proposal to end the violence and initiate talks between the Myanmar rivals.

Activists have criticised the plan, saying it helped to legitimise the junta and fell far short of their demands.

In particular, it did not call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, and other political prisoners. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group says more than 3,400 people have been detained for opposing the coup.

Suu Kyi’s party won a second term in November. The election commission said the vote was fair but the military said fraud at the polls had forced it to seize power.

Protesters have vowed to step up action against the junta and have called on people to stop paying electricity bills and farm loans and keep their children away from school.

Protesters were out in several places, including the main city of Yangon, where hundreds staged a “flash mob” march down a street chanting slogans and holding banners, images on social media showed.

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