Karens flee raids by Burmese junta

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

Karens flee raids by Burmese junta units

Villagers killed, houses torched
Supamart Kasem
Tak

	More than 1,200 Karens have fled attacks by Burmese troops on their border
village in Burma into Tha Song Yang district since early this month,
according to a border official.
	Some 300 families of Karens living in Wa Mae Kala village opposite Tha
Song Yang district of Tak have crossed the Moei River into Thailand after
some 150 Burmese soldiers attached to the 44th Infantry Division entered
their village and torched all houses there on September 6.
	Three Karen villagers including a pregnant woman were reportedly killed in
the fire.
	According to the source, these Burmese troops had forced some Karens to
carry war weapons and food supplies for them during their operations
against the Karen National Union.
	Tha Song Yang district chief Veera Phosuk said 859 of all Karen refugees
are now in temporary shelters at Ban Tinohkho of tambon Mae Ou Su and the
415 others are in Ban Nong Bua.
	Almost 100 members of Thai security forces had already been deployed to
ensure safety for the Karens, he added.
	According to him, staff of the Burma Border Consortium, the Medicine Sans
Frontiers and the Karen Refugee Committee had distributed food, medicines,
clothes and kitchenware to the refugees two days earlier.
	Tak Governor Huekharn Tomorndak who led concerned officials to inspect the
Karens'temporary shelters yesterday said all the Karens will be sent back
home when the situation in their hometown returns to normal.	

 .............................The End ..........................