Burmese Army terrorizes Thai villag

[caroline@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Burmese Army terrorizes Thai villagers

Media Release
26 July 1999

Burmese Army terrorizes Thai villagers

Burmese Army troops invaded a Thai village and beat and kidnapped villagers
last week.

Burmese Army Regiment 249, numbering about 60 troops, entered the Thai village
of Mai Sa Peh, also known as Hta Ta Maw Lae, north-west of Mae Hong Son, on 23
July.=A0 Village sources say that at 4:00 p.m. the armed troops entered
chili-fields belonging to Saya Maw Htaw, a 50-year-old Christian lay preacher.
The troops arrested a 50-year-old woman and 16-year-old Myar Reh, son of Saya
Maw Htaw. At about 6:30 p.m. Saya Maw Htaw was arrested by the soldiers on his
way from the village to his fields to look for his son.

At 8:30 p.m. the troops entered the village and located and arrested
"Japan", a
37-year old member of ABSDF visiting the village.=A0 They then went to the
home
of Aung Kyar, former member of the Karenni National Progressive Party, where
they arrested him and seized 30,000 baht, two gold necklaces, two gold rings
and all the supplies from his grocery shop.=A0 Before leaving the village with
the victims, the soldiers beat a Thai villager named Saw Reh with an M-16,
causing him head injuries. 

The arrested woman was later released. She stated that she had been beaten and
that Myar Reh had been interrogated and badly tortured by the soldiers. The
fate of the other victims remains unknown.

This is the fifth occasion since 1997 of Thai villages and Karenni refugee
camps in the Muang district of Mae Hong Son province being attacked by Burmese
Army troops. This incident follows last month's abduction by Military
Intelligence officers of two ABSDF leaders on Chinese soil. 




All Burma Students' Democratic Front
For further information please call 01 253-9082, 01 654-4989


All Burma Students' Democratic Front
P.O. Box 42, Hua Mark P.O, Bangkapi, 10243, Bangkok
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