About 10,000 people from Myanmar fled across the border into Thailand on Monday to escape fighting between Myanmar government forces and a splinter group of rebels of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, military and border officials told CNN. 
 
 The rebels and Myanmar forces clashed over control of the town of Myawaddy, which sits across the Moei River from Mae Sot, Thailand. The Thailand-Burma Friendship bridge connects the two towns. 
 
 Lt. Col. Vannathit Wongwai, commander of Thailand's 3rd Region Army, said Myanmar military officials told him they had retaken control of Myawaddy at 5 p.m. local time after bringing in 500 reinforcements to battle the Karen splinter group. 
 
 At least five Myanmar refugees and five Thais were injured in the fighting. Shells fell on the Thai side of the border, but the Thai military did not return fire, military officials told the Bangkok Post. 
 
 According to a report on the website Burma Election Tracker, the clashes began when DKBA militia members who had been employed as government border security troops rebelled because the Myanmar military was forcing people to vote at gunpoint. 
 
 "In order to win votes in the elections, [the junta] is bullying and forcing people to vote. But the people want to boycott [the vote], so the soldiers are holding them at gunpoint and our troops had to intervene and take sides with the people," the website report quotes Brig. Gen. Na Kham Mwe, head of the breakaway DKBA faction, as saying. 
 
 Polls were supposed to have closed Sunday in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, which critics have called a façade of democracy put forth by the ruling military junta. 
 
 Opposition parties were either limited in the candidates they could run or boycotted the election altogether. The junta did not allow international monitors. 
 
 The Karen ethnic minority in Myanmar is divided into two main groups, Buddhists who support the ruling junta and Christians who do not. Those behind Monday's clashes have split from the pro-junta group. ||||| Thousands of Myanmar refugees have crossed into Thailand amid the clashes [Reuters] Fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic fighters has sent at least 10,000 people fleeing into Thailand a day after the military-led nation held a much-criticised election. 
 
 
 
 Clashes were reported on Monday at key points on the border with Thailand, leaving at least three people dead and 10 others wounded on both sides of the frontier. 
 
 
 
 The clashes follow a demonstration by the fighters over Sunday's general election, Myanmar's first in 20 years, as well as attempts to force ethnic minority troops to join a border guard force - which would put them under state control. A simmering civil war has wracked parts of Myanmar since independence in 1948 and observers say the state's determination to crush ethnic anti-government fighters appeared to have increased in the lead up to the election. 
 
 
 
 In the heaviest fighting, Karen fighters reportedly seized a police station and post office on Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. 
 
 
 
 Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon. Stray rocket 
 
 
 
 Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas, reporting from the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that a stray rocket propelled grenade crossed into Thailand, injuring five people. 
 
 
 
 "The clashes appear to be between a faction linked to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and government-backed troops," Ortigas said. 
 
 
 
 "This faction has said it did not support the ceasefire the DKBA signed with the Myanmar government, and have reiterated that they want their own autonomy." 
 
 
 
 Our correspondent also said refugees from Myanmar who crossed the border into Thailand feared government troops would shoot them for failing to vote on Sunday. Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), said fighting broke out between up to 300 DKBA soldiers and government forces. "We don't know definitely but I think last night the army sent over more troops, they negotiated and the DKBA retreated but this morning they were blocked by army trucks and then it started," she said. 'Foul play' 
 
 
 
 Myanmar, also known as Burma, drew international criticism over Sunday's vote with Barack Obama, the US president, saying the election was stolen. 
 
 Al Jazeera's special correspondent reports on the difficulty in ascertaining the true will of the people "It is unacceptable to steal elections, as the regime in Burma has done again for all the world to see," Obama, currently on a tour of four Asian nations, said in a speech to India's parliament in New Delhi. 
 
 
 
 Europe and Japan also condemned the conduct of the poll as state TV reported that voters "freely and happily" cast their ballots. 
 
 
 
 State media, featuring photos of Than Shwe, the country's ruling general and other senior leaders voting, announced the "winners" in 57 constituencies, 55 of which were contested by just one candidate, more than two thirds of those with the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). 
 
 
 
 In many constituencies, the poll was a two-way battle between the USDP and the National Unity Party (NUP), which is the successor to former leader Ne Win's party and also closely aligned with the military. A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said voter turnout was estimated at more than 60 per cent but that the results from the whole country could take one week. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said voting conditions had been "insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent". Than Nyein, chairman of the National Democratic Force, created by former members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said the election was marred by irregularities. 
 
 
 
 "It's very different from our expectation because of foul play," he told the AFP news agency. 
 
 
 
 "We have our evidence. Some candidates complained ... because there was vote cheating." 
 
 
 
 'Missed opportunity' Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, has said that ethnic minority clashes with the military in eastern Myanmar could continue for months. He also said that the country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance as refugee numbers continue to rise. 
 
 
 
 "It is possible that it will carry on during the next three months, particularly during the transition from the current government to an elected government," Abhisit told reporters in the Bangkok, the Thai capital. 
 
 
 
 With no specific time given for the release of election results, Western powers were labelling the vote as a "missed opportunity". But some saw the poll as a small step towards democracy after almost five decades of military rule, with opposition parties confident of success in areas they did contest. 
 
 
 
 However, with 25 per cent of the seats in parliament reserved for military appointees regardless of the outcome, the two main pro-military parties needed to win just 26 per cent of the remaining seats to secure a majority. 
 
 
 
 Al Jazeera's correspondent in Myanmar added that despite opposition groups running in the polls, electoral advantages had been skewed towards the USDP. Advance ballots 
 
 
 
 Two opposition parties accused the USDP of illegally collecting advance ballots. Election Facts 29 million eligible voters 40,000 polling stations 3,071 candidates from 37 political parties 82 independent candidates 494 seats in the two-chamber parliament 665 seats spread among 14 regional parliaments The NDF said some people had complained that they were told by the USDP there was no need to vote as their ballots had already been collected. More than 29 million people were eligible to vote but it remains uncertain as to how many actually cast ballots. 
 
 
 
 International condemnation of the polls continued to grow, with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, saying Washington would maintain "rigorous sanctions" against the Myanmar government. 
 
 
 
 The electoral process was "severely flawed, precluded an inclusive, level playing field, and repressed fundamental freedoms," Clinton said. After the election, attention is now turning to whether the government will release Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday, when her current term of house arrest ends. 
 
 
 
 The Nobel Peace Prize winner led the NLD to power in 1990 but the result was never recognised by the ruling generals. 
 
 
 
 She has been detained for most of the last 20 years and supported a boycott of Sunday's election.
– Some 10,000 people fled across the border from Myanmar into Thailand today to escape fighting between government troops and a splinter of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army rebel group. At least three people have been killed and 10 others wounded in the battle, which broke out in the eastern border town of Myawaddy, according to Al Jazeera. Members of the DKBA militia had been working as border security troops for the government, but rebelled when they saw that the military was forcing people to vote at gunpoint, according to a Burmese web report quoted by CNN. “The people want to boycott [the vote], so the soldiers are holding them at gunpoint and our troops had to intervene and take sides with the people,” a militia general said.