KNU Press Release No. 30/97

[Steve_Dun@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

                             OFFICE OF THE SUPREME  HEADQUARTERS
                                        KAREN  NATIONAL  UNION
                                                  KAWTHOOLEI


                                     KNU  Press Release No. 30/97
               Regarding The 1997 SLORC Military Offensive agaist KNU


       The SLORC is continuing to rain destruction and atrocities upon the
Karen people in rural areas. The troops participating in the process are
destroying villages, commiting murder, forcibly conscripting labor and
forcing the relocation of villagers in many areas.

On 10-6-97, a combined force of the SLORC troops and the DKBA, numbering
about 20, attempted to attack Plaw Par Doh, a village near Umpang, Thailand. 
The group retreated without successs after firing a number of shots.

On 13-6-97, a military column from the SLORC IB 93 arrived at Klaw Ta village
in Bilin township and shot at the villagers.  They wounded one villager, Par
Tee Kreh, age 42.  The SLORC troops ransacked 42 houses and left with looted
gold weighing about 180 grams.

On 16-6-97, a 200 man column from the SLORC LID 44 forcibly relocated the
people from the villages starting from Dor Da Lay to Ga Mar Hseh village in
the Tha Ton township.

On 16-6-97, the SLORC army units of IB 20, IB 26, IB 55, LIB 535 and other
units which are conducting military operations in the Toungoo district, burnt
down 26 houses and a school in Shoko village and 7 houses in Meh Ker Waw
village.  Troops from LIB 535 and IB 20 burnt down Maw De Doh, Boh Kler Ber
and Bla Kee villages.  In addition, they seized villagers, including a large
number of women and children.  They were forced to carry supplies and
ammunition to the front line camp of Ga Maw Doh.  On 17-6-97, IB 55 burnt
down Thay Ya Yu village.

On 17-6-97, the SLORC troops from LIB 12 and DKBA troops from Bo Chit Thu
faction shot up the villages of Tee Wa Plaw and Tee Law Theet Kee of  Hlaing
Bwe township, wounding four villagers seriously.

On 22-6-97, troops from the SLORC LIB 12 confiscated 3 pigs, 10 chickens and
50 baskets of paddy from the villagers of Poo Way village in Hlaing Bwe
township.  Troops from SLORC IB 250 shot at a pregnant woman, Naw Toh Ko of
Gaw Tha Wa village, severing her leg.  On the same day, the troops in a
shooting spree killed an unknown Pa-O woman from Kya Ga Lay village and
wounded Saw Way Too of Kler Doh village in the shoulder.  The troops also
seized a woman named Naw Ya Ben with her one year old child.  A man named
Aung Aung from Pine Kyon village, together with his four friends, were
subjected to torture by the SLORC troops before they were taken away.  These
six villagers and child are still under detention.

Abbreviaitons:  
KNU = Karen National Union (the political wing of the Karen resistance)
SLORC = State Law and Order Resoration Council (the military junta of Burma)
DKBA = Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (a Karen Buddhist army organized by the
SLORC)
LID = Light Infantry Division, LIB = Light Infantry Battalion, IB = Infantry
Battalion



















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