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THA NATION: Nine injured in atack o



Nine injured in atack on Karen camp in Thailand

posted at 12:05 hrs (Bangkok time) 

BANGKOK, March 23 -- Nine ethnic Karen refugees were injured, three seriously, when armed
attackers who had crossed the border from Myanmar into Thailand burned down sections of their
camp Monday, border sources said. 

Some 40 houses were destroyed in the early morning raid by unidentified attackers who had
crossed into Thai territory at around 3.30 a.m, local officials and aid workers said. 

The assault on the Karen refugees, who fled their native Myanmar (Burma) to escape fighting
between Karen rebels and the ruling junta, was the third in western Thailand in two weeks. 

''A group of armed men came over the border very early in the morning and attacked Mawker
camp,'' a local Thai official told AFP. ''Many houses were burnt and three of the injured are in a
serious condition in hospital.'' 

Neither Thai officials nor aid workers could confirm who had carried out the attack. But border
sources said it bore the hallmarks of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which is allied
to the Myanmar junta. 

The DKBA has in the past carried out scores of attacks on Karen refugees taking shelter in
Thailand, believing that the displaced population harbours and supports rebels of the rival Karen
National Union. 

In an attack earlier this month, four refugees were killed and thirty injured when a camp was hit with
volleys of mortar rounds and another was almost completely razed when about 200 unidentified
troops stormed it and set fire to 1,000 dwellings. 

One woman was injured in a separate attack a week ago on the Mae Hla camp, which came amid
reports that more than 100 Myanmar-backed troops had infiltrated Thai territory and were poised
for a fresh attack on the camps. 

Thailand admitted Friday that a lapse in security led to the cross-border attack which left four dead.
''We accept we were inactive,'' National Security Council chief General Boonsak
Kamheangridirong said. 

The comments came as ambassadors from Britain, Australia and the United States toured camps on
the border zone in a show of international concern over the attacks. 

Several countries, including the United States and Britain which spoke out as president of the
European Union, have criticised Myanmar's military authorities for waging what they call a campaign
of terror against refugees in Thailand. (AFP)