Bkk Post-Drive starts to curb motor

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Subject: Bkk Post-Drive starts to curb motorcycle pollution

Bangkok Post-June 10, 1999.
BURMA
Rebels say 7 junta soldiers killed

Shans clash with army at Homong
Mae Hong Son, AFP

Shan State Army rebels have killed at least seven Burmese soldiers in fierce
fighting around the former stronghold of Khun Sa, intelligence sources said
yesterday.

The clashes erupted after the Shan State Army, which is fighting for
independence against the Rangoon regime, launched an offensive last week to
regain territory and cut army supply routes.

The sources said 17 police were also injured in the clashes near the heroin
baron's former stronghold of Homong , just inside the Burmese border. There
were no details of rebel casualties.

A battalion of 1,500 Shan troops was involved in the attack and seized a
significant portion of land from the army, the sources said. "We will carry
on attacking the enemy until they retreat," said Major Kam Laeng of the Shan
army.

The engagements prompted Burmese authorities to impose a night curfew in
border districts and to close all frontier checkpoints with Thailand, the
sources said.

A group of around 300 refugees fled the fighting and was stranded near the
border, they added.

The SSA has around 5,000 men under arms and joined renegade factions of Khun
Sa's Mong Tai Army which fought a 20-year struggle against Rangoon before
1996.

Khun Sa, wanted by the United States on drugs charges, now lives under
military protection in a lakeside villa in Rangoon.

Opponents of the junta and some foreign governments claim officials have
turned a blind eye to narcotics production in return for ceasefire
agreements.