Burmese Troops Kill 32 Rebels in Go

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/* Written  5:49 am  Jun 13, 1994 by cesloane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:bitl.seasia */
/* ---------- "Burmese Troops Kill 32 Rebels in Go" ---------- */
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>From: clarinews@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Reuter/Sutin Wannabovorn)
>Subject: Burmese Troops Kill 32 Rebels in Golden Triangle
>Copyright: 1994 by Reuters, R
>Date: Sun, 12 Jun 94 22:10:04 PDT

         BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Burmese government forces
killed 32 guerrillas and captured two hilltop positions from
rebels loyal to ``Golden Triangle'' drug lord Khun Sa, Burmese
state television reported.
         Piles of weapons -- 32 rifles, 304 hand grenades, 199
landmines, 53 mortar shells, 53 rocket launchers and 4,800
rounds of ammunition -- were also seized from the Mong Tai Army
(MTA) forces, the television report late on Sunday said.
         The TV report, monitored in the Thai border town of Mae Sot,
said 17 government soldiers were killed in the operation and a
further 31 wounded.
         Lieutenant General Thin Oo, Second Secretary of Burma's
ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, inspected the
captured arms, according to the report.
         The two captured positions in the weekend fighting were at
Mong Yawn and Mong Yu in Burma's northeastern Shan state.
         An MTA spokesman, however, denied MTA forces had been
involved in the fighting and said it was possible other rebel
groups might have emerged to fight the Rangoon junta.
         More than 1,600 MTA guerrillas have been locked in fighting
with about 3,000 Burmese soldiers around Mong Kyawt, east of the
Salween river and west of the reported weekend incident.
         Government troops controlled most of the low land and the
guerrillas held the hill tops, the spokesman told reporters by
telephone.
         He said the MTA over the weekend sent reinforcements of two
trucks loaded with anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air
missiles to the battlefront because the Burmese forces had begun
air strikes.
         Rebel sources have said at least four civilians were killed
and seven others injured early this month when bombs dropped
from Burmese planes exploded near a Buddhist temple in Mong
Kyawt.
         The MTA spokesman estimated more than 200 Burmese soldiers
had been killed since last month when fighting intensified. He
gave MTA losses as about 150 killed or wounded. There was no
independent confirmation of the reports.
         Since late last year, government troops have been fighting
MTA guerrillas at 13 locations in Shan state in what Rangoon
calls its ``Operation Eradicate Opium'' against the guerrillas
backing Khun Sa.
         Khun Sa, 60, alias Chang Si-fu, is the half-Chinese
half-Shan commander of about 20,000 MTA troops who, he says, are
fighting for the independence of Shan state from Rangoon.
         The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Thailand Office
of Narcotic Control Board say Khun Sa is fighting to defend a
lucrative narcotics operation.
         He was indicted by a U.S. court in early 1990 on charges of
heroin trafficking. Khun Sa denies the charges, saying he only
taxes opium traders who traverse his controlled zone in the
``Golden Triangle.''
         The Golden Triangle, the mountainous terrain where the
borders of Burma, Laos and Thailand meet, is one of the world's