BEIJING (AP) -– Fresh fighting erupted early Saturday in northeastern Myanmar after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels drove tens of thousands of people into China, and a bomb tossed across the border killed at least one and injured dozens.

Up to 30,000 people have fled into China, according to reports received by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“I can still hear the shooting right now,” said one Chinese official, reached Saturday by phone.
The fighting near the border has threatened communist China's goal of stability ahead of the sensitive Oct. 1 celebration of its 60th anniversary. It also could strain China's close relationship with Myanmar's military junta. Already, China has told Myanmar to stop the fighting.
Tensions have spilled over into China as the junta tries to consolidate control over several armed ethnic groups along its borders to ensure that next year's national elections, the first in nearly 20 years, go smoothly. The ethnic groups are wary of a plan to team up their rebels with the military as border guards, which they fear will erode their relative independence. Violence has followed.
At least 25 people had been admitted to Zhenkang County People's Hospital for injuries related to the fighting as of Saturday, said a hospital official who refused to give her name. Most of the patients are ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, she said.
One person was killed and several were injured when a bomb was thrown across the border into China, He Yangchun, a Yunnan province Red Cross official, told the English-language China Daily. No other details were given. Calls to the Red Cross and local government officials rang unanswered Saturday.
Heavy fighting resumed Saturday morning, said a staffer at the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau, who only gave his surname, Hui.
“It seems that gunfire and artillery fire this morning is stronger than last night. Last night, it almost stopped and was pretty quiet. But this morning, at 7 or 8 a.m., the gunfire and shelling restarted. I can still hear the shooting right now,” he said.
The provincial Yunnan government has said about 10,000 people from Myanmar's Kokang region — an area with many ethnic Chinese in northern Shan state — have crossed into China, and Chinese authorities are housing some in seven camps in and near the border town of Nansan.
The UNHCR said the numbers could be much higher. “Our information is that as many as 30,000 people may have taken shelter in Nansan since Aug. 8, saying they were fleeing fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic minority groups,” said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
Chinese soldiers are now guarding the border area, which has been sealed off, said Hui, the Chinese official. The camps where some refugees are being housed are under strict control, he said. “Ordinary people cannot go near this area. Even police must be in uniform and police vehicles to come close.”
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the area remained tense Saturday, with “some small clashes” between the Kokang ethnic army and Myanmar government forces.
Worried about the potential for instability along its border, Beijing has told Myanmar to stop the fighting.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Friday that China hopes Myanmar can “properly deal with its domestic issue to safeguard the regional stability in the China-Myanmar border area.”
China has long maintained close ties with the military junta, offering diplomatic support while conducting border trade and oil and gas deals that have given an economic lifeline to the ruling generals, who face sanctions from the United States and the European Union.
Myanmar's state-controlled media has not publicly addressed the violence.
CAPTION:
Thousands of people have fled from northern Myanmar into China to escape fighting between a local militia, government troops and a breakaway faction, and are taking shelter in an uncompleted housing complex, area residents said Friday, Aug. 28.