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Bkk Post -Burmese troops set to att



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Bkk Post -Burmese troops set to attack rebel camp

Bangkok Post - Oct 11, 1999.
BORDER TENSION
Burmese troops set to attack rebel camp
Embassy raiders 'sheltering there'

Military units from Burma are preparing to attack the area where five
militants who seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok are believed to be
sheltering, an ethnic rebel spokesman said yesterday.

About 700 soldiers have been mobilised in an area opposite Suan Phung
district in Thailand's Ratchaburi province, said an officer of the Karen
National Union, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The KNU is the last major ethnic resistance force still in open armed
resistance to the military junta ruling Burma.

The officer said a KNU unit near the Thai-Burmese border intercepted a
government radio message about the move.

His account could not be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, Thai troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment Task Force conducted an
exercise along the border with Burma in Muang district of Mae Hong Son
yesterday.

The exercise took place near a camp holding about 15,000 Karen refugees at
Ban Pang Khwai in Tambon Pang Mu, while on the other side of the border
Burmese soldiers stood deployed to enforce strict border closure.

Because Burmese rebel groups operate very close to the border, any combat
risks spilling over into Thailand, and sending refugees across the border.

The report comes at a time of diplomatic tension between Thailand and Burma
over the embassy incident.

The KNU officer said the intercepted radio message indicated Burmese troops
were heading towards Kamaplaw, an area where a Karen splinter faction, the
"Army of God," is operating. The faction is believed to have given refuge to
the embassy invaders.

He said another unit is believed to be heading towards the KNU's 4th Brigade
area, opposite Thailand's Kanchanaburi province.-Bangkok Post, AP