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Helicopters Arrived (Latest Develop
Subject: Helicopters Arrived (Latest Development)
TOBER 01, 23:42 EDT
4 Hostages Released in Thailand
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) ? A police helicopter
hovered over the Myanmar Embassy to
determine if a landing within the compound
was possible Saturday, as the government
moved closer to giving in to a dozen armed
rebels and flying them to Myanmar's border.
The young rebels, who oppose Myanmar's
military government, were holding about 40
diplomats and foreigners inside the
compound.
Armed with rifles and grenades, the dissidents
stormed through the
embassy gate Friday morning, seizing hostages and
demanding the
release of all political prisoners in their country.
On Saturday, they released four captives and were
pressing for a
helicopter to fly them and some hostages to the
frontier.
Bangkok police commander
Lt. Gen. Wannarat
Kotcharak said two
long-range helicopters
were being readied,
though a final decision on
the demand had not yet
been made. He said
police were trying to
determine if it was safe
to land inside the
compound. He did not say
whether the rebels, if
allowed to leave, would
be permitted to take the
hostages with them.
``If a pilot agrees
we'll be furnishing two
helicopters depending on
the demands of the
hostage takers,'' he
said ``Our main policy is
the release of all
hostages with the
guarantee of safe passage (for the rebels).''
He said the final decision on how to resolve the
crisis would be ``taken at
the highest level.''
The releases came nearly 24 hours after the takeover.
A young Thai
woman walked out of the embassy as crack police teams
ringed the walled
compound in downtown Bangkok.
As the sick woman was driven away in one of
the 11 ambulances standing by, the 12 rebels
inside released an ailing man dressed in a
traditional Myanmar sarong. Later, another
Myanmar national and another woman were
set free. Police speculated they were released
because they were either ill or suffering
extreme fatigue.
Meanwhile, a rebel holding an AK-47 assault
rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other,
appeared at the embassy gate with one of
the hostages in front of him. He accepted several
bags of food brought by
a policeman, smiled and shut the gate.
The hostage release and talk of the helicopters came
amid the resumption
of negotiations Saturday, after they had been
suspended for several
hours.
Before the two were released, police had said about
40 people were being
held by the intruders, including 13 Myanmar
diplomats, Thais and other
Asians and Westerners. The foreigners were probably
at the embassy to
obtain visas.
One of the
hostage-takers told the Associated
Press in a telephone
interview early Saturday
morning that Thai police
had acceded to their
demand that a helicopter
be provided to fly
them and some hostages
to the
Thai-Myanmar frontier,
where the Myanmar
rebel movement is based.
The hostage-taker, who
described himself as
a 29-year-old student
named Preeda, said
that he and the other
students distrusted the
Thai government, and if
a helicopter was not
provided, they would
``have to do
something,'' which could
include killing
hostages.
He did not say there was an explicit threat to kill
Myanmar hostages every
half-hour if the aircraft didn't come, as some of his
comrades had been
quoted saying. It was not clear if the threat was
serious or even
communicated to the authorities.
In a statement sent to news media, the dissidents ?
calling themselves
the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors ? demanded the
release of all
political prisoners in their military-ruled homeland,
a dialogue between
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
the military, and
the convening of an elected parliament.
The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has
refused to
negotiate with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi or
to convene the
parliament legally elected in 1990.
Oun Hompromee, the embassy gardener and one of three
men who
escaped the compound early Friday evening, said he
and a Thai policeman
working as a security guard were accosted by four of
the intruders, who
forced the two men at gunpoint to take the dissidents
to the
ambassador's office. The envoy had left the compound
30 minutes earlier.
Oun said that he was able to sneak away as the
students gathered
hostages, and he hid until he was able to escape.
Police said they believed no hostages had been hurt,
supporting claims
made by the dissidents in communication with local
media.
In their prepared statement, however, the group
warned that if the
Myanmar government doesn't heed their demands, ``it
is fully responsible
for the consequences of this action.''
Gunshots were heard several times in the early hours
of the siege. Two
dissidents fired off an eight-shot salute in early
afternoon as they took
down the Myanmar flag and raised a red standard
emblazoned with a
fighting peacock, the symbol of the pro-democracy
movement in Myanmar.
Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who arrived at the
scene after
nightfall, said Thai authorities would not use force.
A Myanmar government statement, received in Bangkok,
said Ambassador
Hla Maung was working with Thai authorities to secure
release of the
hostages.
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