The Law Society of Thailand has called for an official investigation of claims that ethnic insurgents from Burma, who had taken hundreds of hospital patients hostage, were summarily executed.
The Thai media have quoted witnesses as saying the hostage-takers were killed in cold blood after special forces stormed Ratchaburi Provincial Hospital in western Thailand on Tuesday morning.
The Bangkok Post quoted an un-named hospital official as saying the insurgents were ordered to strip and kneel before they were each shot in the head.
The Thai military and police have maintained that all 10 insurgents were killed while the hospital was being stormed.
However, the president of the human rights committee of the Law Society of Thailand, Mr Somchai Homlaor, said yesterday that all of the bodies should be the subject of a forensic examination.
"The office of the Attorney-General should require an investigation because these persons died in custody or as a result of actions by officers who were on duty," Mr Somchai told the Herald.
"That is what the law says should happen."
Mr Somchai, who is also the secretary-general of the human rights organisation Forum Asia, said government officials had released few details of how the deaths occurred.
Police on Tuesday afternoon displayed the bodies of the 10 dead insurgents wrapped in sheets. At least five of the corpses were still bleeding from the head and there was no sign of bleeding from wounds elsewhere on their bodies.
There were reports in the Thai media that all of the bodies were later buried by Thai authorities in unmarked graves.
While most of the insurgents were from the ethnic Karen "God's Army", an unconfirmed number have been linked to Burmese student democracy activists involved in taking hostages at Burma's Bangkok embassy last October.
Public opinion in Thailand is running strongly in favour of the decisive action ordered by the authorities, and comments by senior officials and members of the Government suggest that there is unlikely to be any detailed investigation of whether the insurgents were summarily executed as a warning to would-be terrorists.
Mr Somchai, speaking on behalf of Forum Asia, said he was concerned that the Thai Government was being pressured into "becoming an enemy of ethnic nationalities".
"It would not be good for Thailand to dance to the tune of the Burmese regime," Mr Somchai said. "That would lead to a further spread of violence to the Thai side of the border."
Burmese political activists said that the Thai 9th Infantry had allowed Burmese soldiers to use Thai soil in launching attacks against God's Army in recent weeks, and mines laid by the Karen guerillas to deter such collaboration had killed four Thai soldiers.
There is a widely held view that this led to the Thai military's decision to shell God's Army positions and to the subsequent determination to punish severely those who occupied the hospital at Ratchaburi.
Wednesday, January 26 9:22 PM SGT
God's Army Rebel Group Seen Still Fighting Myanmar Forces
BANGKOK (AP)--God's Army, a rebel group led by 12-year-old twin boys whose members captured a Thailand hospital earlier this week, was believed Wednesday to still be holding out against a sustained series of attacks by Myanmar government forces.
Thai military officials and Myanmar dissidents said they couldn't confirm a news report that the group's jungle base in Myanmar's rugged border area near Thailand had fallen and its leaders were missing. The Myanmar government didn't confirm it had seized the base.
The group has been under pressure from Myanmar troops since last week and was shelled by Thai forces over the weekend to prevent members from seeking refuge in Thailand.
The squeeze prompted a 10-man force of God's Army rebels and their allies in a tiny dissident student group, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, to cross into Thailand and capture a provincial hospital Monday, trapping hundreds of patients, visitors and staff.
They demanded that Thailand stop the shelling and grant them and their followers refuge. Thai commandos ended the hostage siege Tuesday morning, killing all the gunmen and freeing the hostages unharmed.
Speculation has since been rising about the fate of the rest of the group. They are normally highly secretive and have been known to have met with foreign journalists only twice in three years.
"We want to know their fate, too," said Col. Pairoj Thongma-eng of Thailand's border task force, which normally has good intelligence along the border. "We have followed the fighting but we have not received any news of their defeat."
Comprising perhaps 200 fighters from the Karen ethnic minority, God's Army is led by Johnny and Luther Htoo, child commanders who are believed to have magical powers of victory after directing a counterattack against Myanmar troops when their village was attacked in 1997.
Pairoj said he heard the latest clashes between the group and Myanmar government troops had taken place Monday and Tuesday, but no activity was reported Wednesday.
A Myanmar government spokesman, responding to a query, said on customary condition of anonymity that there was no major offensive taking place in the area where God's Army is based.
"We have troops positioned to block and prevent armed terrorist groups from infiltrating into Myanmar territory to terrorize the population residing in those areas," the spokesman said.
A Myanmar reporter close to dissident circles who has had contacts with God's Army in the past said the latest news was that fighting was continuing and the group still had 100 fighters in its ranks. It has claimed 200 fighters in the past.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the reporter said that the latest information was that the Htoo brothers were safe.
Wednesday, January 26 10:06 PM SGT
Explosives Found At Refugee Camp On Thai-Myanmar Border
BANGKOK (AP)--Thai authorities found more than 300 sticks of TNT at a camp for ethnic minority refugees from Myanmar on the border between the two countries, they said Wednesday.
Excise officials searching for illegal liquor found the explosives buried under the house of an ethnic Karenni refugee at Ban Bang Treak Tor camp in Mae Hong Son province, 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Bangkok.
"It was a shock to find this big amount of explosives hidden in the camp. It would be enough to destroy our whole town," said Mae Hong Son Gov. Thana Thiempongse.
Military and officials planned to search all three refugee camps in the province for arms, he said.
Thailand tightened security along the border after rebel Myanmar students and an insurgent group known as God's Army took hostages at a Thai hospital. That incident ended Tuesday when a Thai force shot and killed the 10 hostage-takers.
It is suspected the explosives found Wednesday belonged to the Karenni National Progressive Party, which is fighting a guerrilla war against Myanmar's military government, said Damneon Thuamjok, a provincial government information officer.
The camp, home to more than 10,000 Karenni refugees, lies about 4 kilometers (two and half miles) from the Thai-Myanmar border.
There was no indication that the explosives were for use in Thailand. Arms caches used by insurgents in their fighting inside Myanmar are occasionally found by Thai authorities along the border.
Thursday, January 27, 2000; Page A26 IT SEEMS TOO bizarre to admit of rational explanation: a terrorist organization of fundamentalist Christians in the jungle of Southeast Asia, calling itself God's Army, led by twin long-haired, cigar-smoking 12-year-old boys who proclaim themselves invulnerable to bullets and land mines. The group burst into prominence this week when it briefly seized control of a provincial Thai hospital, before being routed by Thai commandos. Little is known of the boys, who apparently did not participate in the attack; perhaps their appeal can never be explained.
But the circumstances giving rise to such terrorism are easily understood; ultimately responsible is Burma's brutal regime, which practices a kind of state terrorism all its own. The Burmese generals have driven more than 1 million people (out of a population of 47 million) into exile in neighboring Thailand. According to a recent field survey led by Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Chris Beyer and others, these people took refuge across the border to escape the regime's widespread practice of forced labor, the burden of corrupt officials demanding money and labor, and equally corrupt military commanders who steal food, livestock and land. Some refugees interviewed by the team of public health workers were political dissidents or their families who had been imprisoned and tortured before fleeing; others were apolitical families who simply could not survive in such a harshly repressive climate.
Many migrants are virtually enslaved in sweatshops by exploitative Thai employers. Others camp out in the jungle, hounded by Burmese and Thai soldiers alike. The twin brothers of God's Army are said to hail from a village that Burmese soldiers burned after raping women and killing men; such abuses are widespread enough to make the legend plausible.
None of this excuses the terrorism of God's Army. Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Nobel Peace Prize-winning democratic leader, has consistently rejected violence as a tactic against the regime that keeps her under house arrest. Among other consequences, the hospital seizure will hurt legitimate Burmese dissidents who have found shelter in Thailand and the courageous Thai officials who support them.
But it is also true that Burma's difficulties, including the problems that
spill into neighboring Thailand, will persist as long as the brutality of its
junta does. The United Nations needs to appoint a special envoy to make clear to
the generals the urgency of dialogue with Burma's democrats, who after all won
an election (never honored) 10 years ago. Japan and Burma's Southeast Asian
neighbors should redouble their commitment not to invest in Burma's murderous
regime. And the generals themselves should devote less effort to pointing
fingers at others and more to curbing the terrorism they practice against their
own people every day.
Myanmar Rebel Headquarters Overrun
|
|
By THAKSINA KHAIKAEW Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The remote jungle headquarters of God's Army, the Myanmar rebel group led by twin 12-year-old boys, was overrun by Myanmar government troops today after a week of sustained attacks, dissident and Thai military officials reported.
The capture of Ka Mar Pa Law came two days after 10 gunmen from God's Army and an allied group, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, were killed by Thai commandos, ending their siege of a Thai hospital, where they had trapped hundreds of hostages.
The gunmen had sought to force Thailand - which had also shelled rebel positions to prevent fighters from crossing the border - to grant refuge to rebels and civilians from the Myanmar assault.
Journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident radio station with contacts among Myanmar opposition groups, said their sources reported the God's Army camp fell early today.
About 50 people were captured, but it was unclear if they were fighters of civilians. Most had been injured in the recent fighting, the journalists said on condition of anonymity. The whereabouts of the twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo, were unknown.
A Thai military intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the fall of Ka Mar Pa Law and told The Associated Press that the estimated 100 fighters had split into three groups - two led by the twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo, and the other by Su Bia, a veteran adult fighter.
They were believed to be headed for Karjom, another mountain on the Myanmar side of the border, the officer said.
God's Army has been under sustained attack since last week, triggering a desperate attempt by its fighters and allied student rebels to secure a retreat into Thailand by seizing the hospital in Ratchaburi, 60 miles west of Bangkok.
Johnny and Luther were not among the hospital captors and speculation has been rising over their fate and their followers, members of the Karen ethnic minority who believe the boys have magical powers of victory.
They earned the reputation by directing a successful counterattack against Myanmar forces in 1997 when their village was attacked. Since then, their word has been law among their tiny band, and they forbid drinking, swearing and gambling among their followers.
Like many Karen, the God's Army followers are fundamentalist Christians in a predominantly Buddhist country.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military regime, responding to a query, did not confirm that the base had fallen but said skirmishing had been going on in the area for several days. He said he believed God's Army was trying to attract international media attention.
The new leader of the Karen National Union, the mainstream Karen resistance group, Saw Ba Thin, told The Associated Press today that to his knowledge, God's Army was still holding its base at Ka Mar Pa Law, a mountain camp in the border jungles.
But he said he had not yet had word of the most recent fighting.
Saw Ba Thin said the KNU, which has disavowed God's Army and the hospital takeover, considers Ka Mar Pa Law its territory and that KNU guerrillas were also fighting Myanmar forces nearby.
``It's difficult to say if they will survive. It depends if they stand or regroup,'' Saw Ba Thin said.
Hours earlier, Saw Ba Thin was voted the new leader of the KNU, which has fought Myanmar's central government for more than 50 years, replacing the legendary Bo Mya, 73, in the fallout from the hospital crisis.
The KNU, which depends on Thailand as a safe area, is fearful of a Thai backlash against the Karens following the God's Army hospital debacle. About 100,000 refugees from Myanmar have sought refuge on Thai soil, most of them Karen villagers shot and burned out of their homes.
``They want to organize themselves according to their own beliefs,'' Saw Ba Thin said. ``They are not under our direct control. We cannot take responsibility for them.''
Thursday, January 27 2:49 PM SGT
Bomb Threats Rattle Thai Town
|
|
By BUSABA SIVASOMBOON Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Schoolchildren and shoppers fled into the streets after bomb threats forced evacuations today in a Thai town where earlier this week Myanmar insurgents took hundreds of people hostage in a hospital.
Police said anonymous callers had made the threats against a different hospital, a school and a department store in Ratchaburi, 60 miles west of Bangkok, since the hostage drama ended Tuesday.
Thai officials and civilians have feared revenge attacks after the commando raid that ended the standoff and killed all 10 captors. Security has been stepped up along the border with Myanmar, 45 miles east of Ratchaburi.
In Ratchaburi, the Robinson department store and Ratchaburi Elementary School were evacuated early today because of the threats, and authorities closed 10 more schools as a precaution.
While hundreds of schoolchildren, shoppers and other people scurried into the streets, explosives experts searched buildings but found no bombs.
Komet Daengtongdee, the provincial governor, said the phone calls were ``just a threat.''
``We thoroughly searched for bombs at both the school and the Robinson department store,'' Komet said. ``We are trying to check where the two calls came from and telling Ratchaburi inhabitants not to panic through our city loudspeaker system.''
The caller to the department store had a female voice, said Police Lt. Col. Kititvorachai Piriyajitta.
Hundreds of police officers, some in plainclothes, have deployed around the town to guard important government buildings. Checkpoints were set up to inspect vehicles for weapons.
The first bomb threats came Wednesday against the Ban Pong Hospital, located outside the town. When an inspection found no explosives, no evacuation was ordered, Kititvorachai said.
Schools had just reopened today after a three-day closure because of the Ratchaburi provincial hospital siege, which began Monday.
Hundreds of patients were trapped inside the hospital for 22 hours by insurgents from two Myanmar fringe rebel groups known as God's Army and the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors.
On the Myanmar side of the border, the rebel groups have come under intense attack by government forces, sending 1,000 civilian refugees into Thailand. Thai troops shelled the rebels over the weekend to prevent them from seeking refuge in Thailand.
In negotiations before they were killed, the rebels had demanded an end to the Thai shelling and refuge in Thailand for civilians and fighters.
Thursday, January 27 3:17 AM SGT
Myanmar Hospital Takeover a Failure
|
|
By GRANT PECK Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The short but spectacular career of a radical Myanmar student rebel group has taken a calamitous fall with the bloody failure of its takeover of a hospital in neighboring Thailand.
Thai authorities blamed a group called God's Army, led by twin 12-year-olds, for the takeover that ended Tuesday with the 10 rebels shot and killed.
But Johnny and Lester Htoo, the chain-smoking 12-year-old leaders of God's Army, were not among the gunmen at Ratchaburi provincial hospital. And the seizure bore the hallmarks of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, a small group that burst into public view last year when it took control of Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok.
An unknown number of members of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors were among the hospital gunmen. They were killed by Thai security forces that stormed the hospital Tuesday to free several hundred hostages after a 22-hour standoff.
Thai media, citing hostage accounts, reported Wednesday that the Thai commandos who stormed the hospital killed some of the 10 gunmen after they surrendered. Thai officials denied the reports.
The Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors and their charismatic leader, who also calls himself Johnny, gained notoriety during their embassy takeover last fall. Photographed casually wielding M-16s in the embassy compound and giving interviews to Thai radio, they became familiar, even sympathetic public figures. They harmed none of their hostages.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962. The student warriors were among those who fled their homes after a pro-democracy uprising launched Aug. 8, 1988 - or 8-8-88 in numerologically obsessive Myanmar - was bloodily repressed by the military.
In an initial burst of youthful enthusiasm, many students linked up with long-standing ethnic insurgent groups. But sometime last year, after years of little progress towards democracy, Johnny and a few friends dubbed themselves the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors and decided to seize the embassy.
``All that Burmese dissidents have done after 8-8-88 is just to talk,'' Johnny's close comrade, Preeda, said during the embassy siege. ``For us, the talk is over.''
The long-haired Preeda was identified Tuesday as one of the dead hospital raiders.
After they escaped into the jungle in the wake of the embassy takeover, Johnny and his friends were marked men. They took shelter with the fringe group called God's Army. The group, made up of members of the ethnic Karen minority, believe the 12-year-old Htoo brothers who lead them have magical powers that make them invincible in battle.
The rebels in that region came under pressure last week, when Myanmar forces advanced on their mountain camp, sending 1,000 civilian refugees fleeing into Thailand. The Thais then shelled the rebels to keep them from seeking refuge on Thai soil. It was that pressure that led the rebels to seize the hospital and demand an end to the shelling.
The fate of most of the rebels, including the Htoo brothers and Johnny, was not clear Wednesday.
Johnny was variously reported dead in the hospital siege or in battle around the God's Army base. God's Army, meanwhile, was believed to still be holding out against attacks by Myanmar troops. Thai military officials and Myanmar dissidents said they could not confirm reports that the group's jungle base in Myanmar's rugged border area near Thailand had fallen.
Elsewhere Wednesday, a Christian funeral rite was held for the rebels killed in the hospital. The hospital itself was open, but bomb crews searched for explosives and workers were still cleaning up blood and broken glass.