BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is trying to bring home 162 of its nationals trapped in Myanmar by a surge in clashes between junta troops and ethnic minority insurgents near the border with China, officials said. Heavy fighting erupted last week in northern Myanmar's Shan State where an alliance of ethnic minority forces battling for self-determination launched a series of coordinated attacks on junta positions. Newly formed pro-democracy insurgent groups have in some areas teamed up with ethnic minority guerrillas who have been campaigning for decades for greater autonomy. The latest fighting in Shan State has pushed thousands of refugees into China, and displaced thousands more internally, Myanmar media outlets reported. A "three brotherhood alliance" of ethnic minority armies in Shan and Rakhine states, said it is seeking to defend their territory and civilians from attacks by the junta.

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Persons: Thais, Srettha Thavisin, Nobel, Aung, Panu, Poppy McPherson, Robert Birsel Locations: BANGKOK, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Israel, Myanmar's Shan State, Yunnan province, Thai, Suu Kyi, Shan State, Shan, Rakhine