Karen fighters hold Australian near

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Karen fighters hold Australian near Thai border 
11:59 a.m. Mar 28, 1998 Eastern 
MAE SOT, Thailand, March 28 (Reuters) - Armed Buddhist Karen fighters have
detained an Australian English teacher at their camp just across the border
in Myanmar (Burma), Thai military officials said on Saturday. 

They said members of pro-Yangon (Rangoon) Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA) ordered the Australian, aged 40 and known only by his first name
Nick, at gunpoint on Friday to wade across the shallow Moei River separating
the two countries. 

The man, accompanied by a Thai woman, had taken pictures of the DKBA camp
after it was attacked with mortar shells a night earlier by guerrillas of
the predominant Christian Karen National Union (KNU), they said. 

Thai officials estimated that about 50 DKBA followers were killed when the
KNU shells landed on a makeshift movie theatre in the camp. 

The Australian embassy in Bangkok said it had no information about any
Australian being detained by the Buddhist Karen group. 

The DKBA and KNU have renewed their military conflict in recent weeks by
raiding and burning rival camps near Mae Sot on Thailand's western border. 

The KNU is the last big organised ethnic group fighting an anti-Yangon
military campaign to seek autonomy for Karens in eastern Myanmar. 

The Thai military sources said the detained Australian was a volunteer
English instructor at Huay Kalok Karen refugee camp inside Thailand.
Intruding DKBA guerrillas set fire to the camp about a week ago. 

REUTERS ^REUTERS@ 

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.