SLORC SHELLS KARENNI REFUGEE CAMPS

[lurie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

                   SLORC SHELLS KARENNI REFUGEE CAMPS
                   ----------------------------------  
 
         Troops Leave Literature And Uniforms Of The Breakaway 
                              KNDP Faction

Date: January 3, 1997

A Commando Unit under the command of Light Infantry Battalion 302
shelled two Karenni refugee camps early this morning, killing 2
refugees and wounding 11 others, according to ABSDF sources.

The shelling occurred at 2:33am at the two refugee camps inside
Thailand about 6 kilometers from the Thai-Burma border, opposite
Mae Hong Song. SLORC's Light Infantry Battalion 302 is situated
close by on the Burmese side of the border near Border Point 9. 

The shelling lasted about 20 minutes, in which the SLORC troops
used 60mm, 40mm and RPG anti-tank launchers. 

According to ABSDF sources on the border, it was the first attack
launched inside Thailand by Burmese troops from Karenni areas.
The two refugees who were killed by the shelling were Ai Phyin
(female), aged 23, and Aik Phone (male), aged 35. 

The SLORC Commando Unit left uniforms and literature published by
the breakaway KNPP faction, known as the Karenni National
Democratic Party (KNDP), in an attempt to blame the faction for
the attack.

According to sources from the Karenni National Progressive Party
(KNPP), the breakaway faction is based at Daw Nyi Khu along with
Infantry Regiment 430, in Dee Mawso township. 

Citing the long distance between Daw Nyi Khu and the Thai-Burma
border, sources on the border near Mae Hong Song believe that the
attack was not carried out by the renegade group, but rather by
Light Infantry Battalion 302, which is based near the border.

In an similar incident in 1994, the SLORC troops launched an
offensive against a large Mon refugee camp known as Halokkhani near
Kanchanaburi.

All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF)   

For more information, please contact Tel: 300 0631.