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Rebels Say Burma Air Stri



/* Written  2:47 am  Jun  7, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Rebels Say Burma Air Stri" ---------- */
Subject : Rebels Say Burma Air Strikes Kill Four Civilians

   BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Burmese air strikes against
guerrillas loyal to Golden Triangle opium warlord Khun Sa killed
at least four civilians and wounded three over the weekend,
guerrilla sources said Monday.
   They said the casualties occurred on Saturday afternoon when
planes dropped sixteen bombs near the contested town of Mong
Kyawt in northeastern Shan State.
   Seven Burmese soldiers were killed by landmines when they
tried to rush the position at Doi Hing Kong just after the air
strikes, the guerrilla sources said.
   Earlier Saturday troops launched two sorties against Khun
Sa's Mong Tai Army (MTA) guerrillas at another contested
position near Mong Kyawt but no one was reported hurt.
   The sources said the air attacks continued on Sunday but
there were no details.
   Independent confirmation of the attacks was not available. A
Thai military spokesman last month confirmed that the air force
had been brought in to back up troops fighting Khun Sa's
guerrillas, who captured Mong Kyawt in the south of Shan state
earlier in the month.
   Some 700 MTA guerrillas were forced to withdraw from the
town and take up positions in mountains overlooking it last
week, the guerrilla sources said.
   Mong Kyawt is on the leading route to Khun Sa's main
headquarters at Ho Mong to the west.
   Burmese soldiers launched an offensive, codenamed
"Operation Eradicate Opium," against Khun Sa late last year.
Intermittent fighting, at times heavy, has intensified since
last month.
   Guerrilla sources say battles are continuing at 13 points
along a broad front in the south of Shan state.
   They say more than 200 people from both sides have been
killed in heavy fighting over recent weeks, particularly near
Mong Kyawt and Doi Kong Mon, a mountain southwest of the
Burmese-Thai border town of Tachilek.
   Khun Sa, also known as Chang Si-fu, 60, is the half-Chinese,
half-Shan commander of the 20,000-strong MTA.
   He says he is a Shan nationalist fighting for the
independence of his state and only taxes opium traders passing
through his zone of control.
   U.S. anti-narcotics officials say Khun Sa is one of the
biggest heroin trafficers. He was indicted on narcotics
trafficking charges by a U.S. court in 1990.


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