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KNU ambush ferry, demand ransom fo



Subject: KNU  ambush ferry, demand ransom for hostages, SLORC says

Karen rebels ambush ferry, demand ransom for hostages, SLORC says

BANGKOK, May 5  - Armed fighters of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU), the 
only major ethnic insurgency yet to reach a ceasefire with Burma's ruling 
junta, have ambushed a ferry and taken 11 hostages, Rangoon said Monday.

Members of the KNU "forcibly stopped" the passenger ferry plying between Myeik 
and Taninthayee in southern Burma on Thursday, an information sheet received 
here from Burmese authorities said.

The KNU robbed passengers and was demanding a ransom for the hostages, who 
included the boat owner, three civil servants and seven others passengers, it 
said, without indicating the current status of the hostages.

KNU officials at the Thai border reached by telephone had no information about 
the reported ambush.

Myeik is a coastal town located near the mouth of the Tenasserim river, while 
Taninthayee is some 80 kilometres (50 miles) inland, 945 kilometres (590 
miles) south of Rangoon.

SLORC forces embarked on a major offensive in February against the KNU, which 
has been fighting Rangoon for almost 50 years.

The KNU has lost control of its former remaining enclaves near the Thai border 
and thousands of Karen civilians have fled to Thailand, but vastly outnumbered 
rebel fighters are maintaining guerilla resistance, including in Tenasserim 
division.

AFP