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AFP-Western hostages accused of con



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: AFP-Western hostages accused of conniving with embassy gunmen

Western hostages accused of conniving with embassy gunmen
YANGON, Oct 4 (AFP) - Westerners taken hostage by anti-junta gunmen who
stormed the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok last week met and "connived" with
their captors beforehand, Myanmar's state-run press said Monday.
The official media also said the armed group of five, who fled to the
Thai-Myanmar border in a helicopter after releasing their captives, had
stolen cash and documents from the embassy offices.

"It is learned that the terrorists had connived beforehand with some of the
foreigners who had come for visas on that day," an official report in the
Burmese language Mirror daily said.

The newspaper did not elaborate on how it claimed the Westerners might have
assisted the gunmen.

A number of foreigners were amongst the hostages taken by the armed men who
took over the embassy in central Bangkok on Friday.

The kidnappers demanded that the military junta in Yangon open talks with
the democratic opposition led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta repeatedly accuses Aung San Suu Kyi, who denied involvement in the
embassy storming and decried the use of violence, of having foreign backers.

As the five gunmen climbed into an escape helicopter provided by the Thai
authorities Saturday to take them to the border, freed Western hostages
waved red pro-democracy banners and shouted slogans.

Photos of at least seven Western men and women wearing red headbands and
holding a rebel flag were splashed across the front pages of newspapers
around the region the next day.

The junta have labelled the hostage-takers as terrorists, saying that action
must be taken against them.

"Although the incident is over, it is also very important to make these
criminals realise that no matter under what pretext or disguise it might
have been staged, the peace-loving people of the world community will not
tolerate the criminal and terrorist activities they have committed," a
statement Saturday said.

Since then no further official statements have been issued.

The junta has meanwhile beefed up security around foreign embassies in the
capital Yangon. Witnesses and officials said extra police guards had been
posted near embassy compounds.

Officials said the Thai-Myanmar border remained closed Monday, with little
sign of unusual activity, despite Thai media reports of increased Myanmar
troop concentrations.

"There is no report of any tension along the border" a Thai border official
told AFP.