[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
KNU ambush ferry, demand ransom fo
- Subject: KNU ambush ferry, demand ransom fo
- From: ausgeo@xxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 05 May 1997 06:14:00
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