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BKK POST: Thai soldiers captured



April 25, 1998


                                     



                                 BORDER

              Thai soldiers
              captured by
              DKBA 'dead'

              Deputy defence chief confirms report

              Tak

              Deputy Defence Minister Wattanachai Wuthisiri has confirmed
              earlier reports that two Thai soldiers captured by pro-Rangoon
              Democratic Karen Buddhist Army guerrillas had been killed.

              Gen Wattanachai said many intelligence sources reported the
              two were already dead although it remained unclear whether the
              DKBA killed them.

              He added the army would further check with all available
              sources to verify the reports.

              Sergeant Aree Hoonyon and Private Mana Sumaporn, both of
              the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task Force, went missing after a
              border clash with DKBA guerrillas in Pob Phra district on
              March 22.

              A search failed to find them. Burmese authorities denied
              knowledge of their whereabouts.

              Col Catchapat Yamngarmriab, the task force chief who had
              earlier said the two were held captive by the DKBA, said after
              their deaths were officially confirmed that the army would
              consider giving assistance to their families since they were killed
              while on duty.

              Gen Wattanachai said the government had decided to allow the
              United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to supervise
              Karen refugee camps in Tak and Mae Hong Son.

              The Foreign Ministry would determine what role the UNHCR
              should play, he said.

              Financial aid from the agency is needed since instability in Burma
              is likely to keep displaced Karens in Thai camps for a long time.

              Tak, however, was having problems relocating some 60,000
              refugees since there was no place large enough to accommodate
              them.

              Some public land earmarked for a new camp was found to have
              been encroached on by local villagers.

              The encroachers would have to be moved out and permission
              sought from state agencies concerned before the land could be
              developed into a camp site.




                                     




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Last Modified: Sun, Apr 26, 1998