AP: Myanmar Army Says Rebels Killed

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Subject: AP: Myanmar Army Says Rebels Killed 12 


Myanmar Army Says Rebels Killed 12 

Thursday, June 24, 1999; 11:15 a.m. EDT

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Ethnic Karen guerrillas killed a dozen  traders
and wounded more than 20 inside Myanmar because they refused to pay a rebel
tax, a Myanmar army officer said Thursday. 

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity at a border post, said the
rebels attacked a bus load of traders on a bridge about 10 miles from the
Thai border Wednesday. 

The attack could not be confirmed by the Thai military, which monitors
fighting in the frontier regions of its western neighbor. 

The Karen National Union, which has suffered military setbacks in recent
years in its half-century fight for autonomy, could not be reached for
comment. 

Thai army officers have said Karen guerrillas have demanded that traders
passing through border areas where they operate pay taxes on their goods. 

Unlike other rebel groups in Myanmar, the Karen National Union is not
involved in drug trafficking to finance its insurgency. It used to control
several border crossings into Thailand and raised money by taxing goods
traded between the two countries.