Burma Troops Hit Refugee

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/* Written  3:08 PM  Jul 22, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Burma Troops Hit Refugee" ---------- */
Subject : Burma Troops Hit Refugee Camps

   BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Burmese troops stormed a refugee camp
along the Thai-Burmese border Thursday, burned down 120 houses and
used 40 residents as human shields in an attack on another refugee
center, a relief source said.
   About 100 soldiers seized the 40 men from the smaller camp and
used them as human shields in an attack on the main Haloekhani
Camp, home to more than 6,000 people, a spokesman for the Mon
National Relief Committee reported.
retreat back to the smaller camp, containing 500 refugees, after a
15-minute battle, he said. There was no immediate report on
casualties.
   The Burmese troops burned down all the houses in the camp after
their retreat, the spokesman said by phone from near the border,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
   After the attack, many refugees from both camps fled to
Thailand, without interference from Thai Border Patrol Police, the
spokesman reported.
group has long fought the central government.
   The Haloekhani Camp lies about 175 miles west of Bangkok. Both
camps were inside Burmese territory.
   A military junta seized power in Burma in 1988 after killing
thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
   The junta was invited for the first time this year to attend the
annual foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, ASEAN, in Bangkok.
   Burmese dissident groups assailed Thailand and the other ASEAN
members -- Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the
Philippines -- for inviting Burma to the meeting, which opens
Friday.


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