Burmese rebel leader attacked in Th

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Subject: Burmese rebel leader attacked in Thai border town 

Burmese rebel leader attacked in Thai border town 
07:17 a.m. May 20, 1997 Eastern 

MAE HONG SON, Thailand, May 20 (Reuter) - A senior member of an ethnic rebel
group and
his daughter were injured when a group of armed men said to be Burmese
soldiers attacked them
in this town on the Burma border, rebel sources said on Tuesday. 

They said Jealae Pawla, a senior official in the Karenni National Progress
Party (KNPP), and his
12-year-old daughter were wounded when the men fired on their house late on
Monday. 

The men sprayed the house, which had seven occupants, with M-16 and AK-47
rifles for about
five minutes before retreating to the Burmese side of the border, a rebel
source said. 

Pawla, a minister of the prime minister's office of the KNPP, was wounded in
the arm. His
daughter was listed in critical condition with stomach injuries. 

``Burmese soldiers were responsible for attacking the house,'' said Aung
Mya, the commander of
the KNPP guerrillas who are now living in a refugee camp in Thailand. 

A Thai army officer based on the border said it was not yet certain who was
responsible for the
attack. 

``For the time being we still unable to say who was responsible for the
attack,'' Colonel Decha
Satithangkul told reporters. 

The KNPP is a small rebel faction that has been fighting for greater
autonomy for their people
from Rangoon. 

The KNPP signed a brief ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military
government in March
1995. But fighting resumed after the KNPP accused Rangoon of violating the
truce by sending
thousands of troops into the areas under KNPP control. 

After the fighting resumed, more than 10,000 Karenni fled Burma and sought
refuge in camps in
Thailand. ^REUTER@