NEWS - SHAN AND KARENNI ARMIES ENGA

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - SHAN AND KARENNI ARMIES ENGAGE BURMESE FORCES

BURMA COURIER No. 185            June 6 - 12, 1999

SHAN AND KARENNI ARMIES ENGAGE BURMESE FORCES
BurmaNews - BC:  June 11, 1999  (based on AFP, Nation and BKK Post
stories)

MAE HONG SON -- Shan State Army resistance forces have killed at least
seven Burmese soldiers in fierce fighting around the former stronghold
of
druglord Khun Sa, intelligence sources said yesterday.

The clashes erupted after the Shan State Army (SSA - S) launched an
offensive last week to regain territory and cut army supply routes.
Sources
indicated that as many as 17 Burmese police were also injured in the
clashes near Homong just inside the Burmese border about 40 miles north
of
Mae Hong Son.  There were no reports of casualties among resistance
group.

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 SSA - S which has been mobilizing troops in the Ho Mong area for the
past several weeks is apparently seeking to regain control of territory
previously lost to Burmese army troops and to cut off their supply
routes.

The engagements have 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.

For their part, the Thais have also closed all checkpoints along the
northern border with Burma because of the fighting, a Third Army
spokesman
said yesterday.  Gen Chamlong Photong said the border areas in Tak and
Chiang Mai provinces had been sealed since May 31 to prevent hostilities
from spilling into Thailand.

The resistance army under the command of Col Yord-serk has around 5,000
men
under arms.  It includes renegade factions of Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army
which
fought a 20-year struggle against Rangoon before the drug baron
surrendered
to Burmese army forces in 1996.  Over the past year it has launched a
series of attacks against drug trafficking groups in Shan state in an
effort to convince the international community that its forces are drug
free.

Meanwhile, farther south resistance forces of the Karenni National
Progressive Party (KNPP) have stepped up their attacks against Burmese

army
troops to the east of the Salween in Kayah state in Burma.  According to
KNPP sources, the Burmese army  has been mobilizing troops in the area
with
a view to attacking Karenni refugee camps and in Thailand.

The operations of the KNPP this week led Thai army units in the area to
put
pressure on the resistance army to stop their attacks.  It is believed
that
Burmese army commanders in the region have sought the assistance of
their
counterparts in the Thai army.

Top leaders of the  KNPP forces, Bee Htoo and Gen Aung Myat, are said to
be
keeping a low profile, believing the Thai Army will try to squeeze out
of
them intelligence information about KNPP's military operations in
Karenni
state.

Ceasefire talks between the KNPP and Rangoon have failed in the past two
years. The KNPP leadership accused the Burmese junta of going back on
its
word by increasing the number of troops in the Karenni state instead of
withdrawing them, as agreed upon.

Earlier this year there were reports that the Karennis had forged a
working
relationship with the Karen National Union and Yord-serk's Shan State
Army.