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Reuters-Thai police kill three susp



Subject: Reuters-Thai police kill three suspected drug traffickers 

Thai police kill three suspected drug traffickers
07:02 a.m. Jun 14, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, June 14 (Reuters) - Thai police killed three suspected amphetamine
traffickers in a shootout at an apartment building in Bangkok on Monday.

They said one policeman was seriously wounded in the clash.

``The suspected drug gangsters opened fire on the police first then officers
fired back in self-defence,'' a police spokesman told reporters.

He said police believed the three men killed were members of Myanmar's Karen
minority.
(*Note-possible pro SPDC group)
The spokesman said a police unit raided the apartment where the men were
staying after a tipoff and detained three other suspects.

The shooting comes amid charges by human rights groups that the police have
been guilty of an increasing number of extra-judicial killings of drug
suspects and car thieves.

Last week, border security forces killed seven suspected drug traffickers
close to the Myanmar border while a unit on Thailand's eastern border killed
four Cambodians suspected of car theft.

Police spokesmen insist officers have acted in self defence.