BBC Embassy gunmen fly out

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World: Asia-Pacific

Embassy gunmen fly out  
Saturday, October 2, 1999 Published at 07:41 GMT 08:41 UK 
 

Special police surrounded the embassy during the tense stand-off 

Armed gunmen who stormed the Burmese embassy in Bangkok on Friday have left 
the city by helicopter after releasing most of their hostages. 

  
BBC News' Frances Harrison reports on the end of the siege 
The group is said to be heading for a Burmese refugee camp near the Thai town 
of Ratchaburi on the border with Burma. 

All those held in the embassy are now reported to be free but two senior Thai 
government officials are accompanying the gunmen, including the acting 
Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra. 

It is thought that Mr Paribatra offered to take the place of the remaining 
hostages seized during the storming of the embassy compound. 


  
BBC News' Daniella Relph: Hostages shaken but unharmed 
Earlier the group left the embassy in two vans and were driven at high-speed 
to a nearby field to await the arrival of the helicopters. 

Shots heard 

Gunshots were heard from inside the embassy but there has been no explanation 
and no reports of any casualties. 
 The group, thought to be 12-strong, had wanted the helicopter to land in the 
embassy compound, but space restrictions meant it was switched to the nearby 
field. 

The gunmen, who are understood to be armed with AK-47s, hand grenades and 
grenade launchers, are intending to fly to the Thai-Burmese border. 

A few hours earlier, they released three people - two Burmese men and a 
four-month pregnant woman who worked at the embassy. As many as 50 people 
were thought to have been held hostage at the embassy. 

Anti-terrorist units 

Dozens of sharp-shooters and elite anti-terrorist police units surrounded the 
embassy during negotiations. 

At one point the gunmen threatened to start shooting their captives - one 
every half hour - if their demands were not met. 

The hostages included 13 Burmese officials, as well as Canadians, French, 
Malaysians, Singaporeans, Thais, an American, and a German, according to one 
of the hostages, who spoke by phone to a local media organisation, AsiaWorks. 


 
Police were ordered to hold fire 
The armed group seized control of the embassy at about 1100am local time 
(0400GMT) on Friday. 

Saying they represented a previously unheard of group called the Vigorous 
Burmese Student Warriors, the gunmen called for the immediate release of all 
political prisoners in Burma and for dialogue between the military government 
and opposition groups. 

The gunmen said they were willing to die in action. 

Intermittent gunfire was heard from the embassy compound throughout the day. 

The All Burma Students Democratic Front - which represents Burmese students 
in exile - says it has no connection with the hostage takers and does not 
support violence in the pursuit of bringing democracy to Burma. 

There are hundreds of democracy and human rights activists, including exiled 
students, working in Thailand to lobby for greater democracy in Burma. 

Students and ethnic groups regularly demonstrate in front of the Burmese 
embassy in Bangkok, but their demonstrations are always peaceful.