Armed group storm Myanmar embassy i (r)

[bagan1040@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: Armed group storm Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, shots fired

Armed Men Enter Myanmar Embassy

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Filed at 3:12 a.m. EDT


By The Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- A dozen men armed with assault rifles and hand 
grenades stormed into the Myanmar Embassy today, seizing hostages and then 
negotiating with Thai police, officers said.

At least one shot was heard from within the building, and a Thai businessman 
standing outside the embassy said five shots were heard earlier.

The identity of the men was not known, said police who surrounded the 
building located along a major road in downtown Bangkok.

A police officer, who asked not to be identified, said an embassy security 
guard told them that a dozen armed men broke into the building after posing 
as foreigners wanting to apply for visas to Myanmar, also known as Burma.

The Thai security guard, Tanomsak Artdej, was struck in the head as the 
group, some armed with M-16 rifles, charged into the embassy. He was 
released from a hospital after treatment.

Gen. Pornsak Durongkavibul, the deputy head of Thailand's national police 
force, was negotiating with the men by telephone. More than 100 police, 
including SWAT teams and police dogs, surrounded the embassy compound.

The embassy is the site of frequent protests by Myanmar students and other 
exiles opposed to the military regime in their country.







>From: "koko" <koko@xxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: "koko" <koko@xxxxxxx>
>To: <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Armed group storm Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, shots fired
>Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 18:11:08 +0900
>
>Thailand-Myanmar-atta
>    =  = ck,5thlead
>    Armed group storm Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, shots fired
>    ATTENTION - ADDS details, quotes ///
>
>    BANGKOK, Oct 1 (AFP) - A group of 12 armed men stormed the Myanmar
>embassy
>in downtown Bangkok Friday, taking the 20 staff hostage, police said.
>    Major General Jongrak Chutanond, deputy metropolitan police commander
>told
>AFP from the scene that attack was launched just before midday (0500 GMT).
>    Police said shots had been heard inside the building, but that all the
>hostages were believed to be safe.
>    General Thanajaro, security advisor to the prime minister, said the
>hostage
>takers had not yet made any demands, but they were believed to be exiled
>Myanmar activists.
>    "The government doesn't know what the hostage takers demands are and 
>the
>Burmese students won't let anyone inside the embassy compound," he told
>reporters.
>    Dozens of armed police wearing flack jackets cordoned off the section 
>of
>Sathorn Road surrounding the embassy and sniffer dogs were being used to
>search the area, an AFP reporter on the scene said.
>    Witnesses said at least 10 shots had been heard from inside the 
>compound
>and the attackers had removed the Myanmar flag, replacing it with the red
>and
>gold fighting peakcock banner of the student pro-democracy movement.
>    Police said all the shots so far had been fired by the hostage takers.
>    A spokesman for Myanmar's military government said in a statement that
>ambassador Hla Muang was safe and had not been in the embassy compound when
>it
>was stormed.
>    "The Myanmar ambassador was not in the embassy at the time of the
>incident," the statement received here said.
>    "He is working together with the Thai authorities to secure the release
>of
>the hostages."
>    Police at the scene earlier said Hla Muang was amongst the hostages. 
>They
>said the group of 12 men was armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades.
>    According to witnesses, two men at the scene, both believed to be
>Burmese,
>had so far been detained for questioning.
>    A number of exiled Myanmar activist groups use Thailand as the base for
>their efforts to topple Yangon junta, making regular calls for democracy 
>and
>the convening of a parliament elected in 1990 polls.
>    The polls were won in a landslide by the National League for Democracy
>led
>by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but the military have refused to
>hand over power.
>    A spokesman for the Thailand-based All Burma Students' Democratic Front
>(ABSDF) on Friday denied any involvement in the embassy storming.
>    "The ABSDF is not involved in violence, and we call on all sides to
>resolve
>this in a peaceful way," spokesman Naing Aung told AFP.
>    "We use Thailand only as a logistics base for our movement."
>    bur/de/agr/jkb
>
>
>

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