BURMESE BORDER: Thai, Karen villagers flee fighting ( The Nation ) January 25, 2003

BURMESE BORDER: Thai, Karen villagers flee fighting

Published on Jan 25, 2003

Burmese troops seized two base camps from the rebel Karen National Union near the Thai border following two days of heavy fighting that resulted in the death of at least 15 soldiers and displaced about 700 Burmese and 600 Thai villagers.

Thai Army sources on the border said the KNU was unable to withstand the heavy shelling on its positions, which lasted for at least 24 hours until yesterday morning, and decided to retreat.

The 700 villagers, almost all ethnic Karen, are in a make-shift camp in Tak's Phop Phra district near the border and it remained unclear when they would be returned to the Burmese side, officials said.

Thai officers said at least 10 Burmese and five Karen rebels died in the fighting. Scores have been hospitalised in the district.

Seven Burmese mortar shells launched during the battle on Thursday landed on two Thai villages but no residents were injured. Some 600 Thais had to evacuate their villages and are housed in government buildings.

Thai troops guarding the border were ordered to act with utmost restraint for fear that any retaliation against the Burmese could provoke another diplomatic row.

There have been no reports of Thai troops returning live rounds in response to the stray Burmese shells.

The attack marks the start of the annual dry-season offensive by the military government of Burma against ethnic minority rebels along the border with Thailand.

In a separate development, Army chief General Somdhat Attanand yesterday defended the decision to crack down on Burmese dissidents along the border, saying Thailand cannot be used as a staging ground for attacks against neighbouring countries.

He also said that many of the so-called dissidents were illegal migrants.

Thailand has been criticised for ongoing raids against Burmese dissidents, many of whom function as the "eyes and ears" of Thai security agencies.

THE NATION