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Hundreds Killed in Burma



/* Written  2:57 am  Jun 28, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Hundreds Killed in Burma" ---------- */
Subject : Hundreds Killed in Burma Golden Triangle Clashes

   BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Burmese troops seized three
positions from Golden Triangle drug warlord Khun Sa in fighting
which has so far killed almost 450 people, Burma's state-run
media reported.
   Burmese television, in a broadcast monitored in Thailand
late Sunday, said government forces captured three mountaintop
positions from Khun Sa's guerrillas in northeastern Burma's Shan
state last Thursday after a week of air strikes and infantry
attacks.
   Troops found the bodies of 250 guerrillas when they finally
overran the trenches, the television said, while 196 government
soldiers were killed and 340 others had been wounded in the
campaign against Khun Sa.
   Major General Kyaw Win, commander of the army's eastern
zone, took representatives from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration and Rangoon-based diplomats to inspect weapons
seized from the rebels as well as almost seven pounds of heroin
found at a captured position, the television said.
   Troops began an offensive against Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army
late last year, the first ever major push against Khun Sa by the
Burmese military.
   Fighting intensified last month when Khun Sa's fighters
launched coordinated attacks in several different parts of Shan
state in an attempt to push troops out of the area.
   The guerrillas made initial gains, overrunning and capturing
several army bases but government forces have since managed to
retake some of the lost ground.
   The latest fighting was in hills overlooking the town of
Mong Kyawt, which the guerrillas captured last month but
subsequently lost to a government counterattack.
   A spokesman for the Mong Tai Army, contacted by telephone,
confirmed the latest report that the guerrillas had lost three
positions but said the government had exaggerated rebel losses.


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