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BKK POST: Thai soldiers captured
- Subject: BKK POST: Thai soldiers captured
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 08:36:00
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