BURMESE TROOPS KILL SEVEN KAREN VIL

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Subject: BURMESE TROOPS KILL SEVEN KAREN VILLAGERS



Media Release - 18/99 
March 19, 1999

BURMESE TROOPS KILL SEVEN KAREN VILLAGERS IN TENASSERIM DIVISION

Burmese troops operating in the area of the Karen National
Union's (KNU) 4th brigade have killed seven villagers and wounded
another eight in an unprovoked attack, according to sources in
the area. 

The shooting took place on March 9, when soldiers from a military
patrol, under the command of the Burmese Army's Special Operation
Command (5), opened fire on a group of Karen villagers hiding in
a forest near Mae Phya area in Tenasserim Division.

Among those killed were a man and woman, both aged 70, three men,
a young woman and a child. The three men died of gunshot wounds
after fleeing from the shooting. During the attack, another eight
villagers were also seriously wounded.

The attack on the villagers may have been a retaliatory measure
against the KNU and Karen villagers, as it occurred after the
deaths of 10 Burmese immigration officers in the custody of the
KNU in Three Pagoda Pass area near the Thai-Burma border late
last month. 

The fighting between the Burmese army and the KNU in Tenasserim
area has gone on since early 1997. In the course of the fighting,
countless villagers have either fled to Thailand or hidden in the
jungles of Tenasserim Division. 

The KNU is the one of the few remaining ethnic armies which has
refused to enter into a cease-fire agreement with the military
junta. It has stood firm on the call for a political settlement
with the regime.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front

For more information please contact 01-253 9082, 01-654 4984