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AFP : Gunmen fly out of Bangkok hol
- Subject: AFP : Gunmen fly out of Bangkok hol
- From: euburma@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 02 Oct 1999 00:56:00
Subject: AFP : Gunmen fly out of Bangkok holding Thai minister
AFP : Gunmen free 23 hostages and fly out of Bangkok holding Thai minister
by Gina Wilkinson
BANGKOK, Oct 2 (AFP) - Gunmen who stormed the Myanmar embassy in
Bangkok to protest at the country's military rule freed 23 hostages
Saturday as they boarded a helicopter with a Thai government minister and
flew out of the capital.
One helicopter took off from a school yard in central Bangkok, carrying
five gunmen, Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and one
other official, an AFP reporter on the scene said. Before boarding the
helicopter the gunmen released 23 hostages which they had transported with
them at gunpoint to the makeshift helipad earlier Saturday. Thai Interior
Minister Sanan Kachonprasart said Sukhumbhand had offered himself in
exchange for the hostages. A second helicopter was standing by to
transport the rest of the 12 gunmen, who have demanded safe passage to the
Thai-Myanmar border.
The hostages had been held for more than 24 hours since the group
calling itself the "Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors" took over the
Myanmar embassy compound. There have been no reports of any
casualties. Earlier one hostage being taken to the school yard in two vans
told local radio by mobile telephone: "They are still pointing the guns at
us. We need the helicopter now."
Police delivered two vans to the embassy around noon Saturday. Minutes
later four shots were fired before the vans sped from the scene. Six other
hostages fled the embassy compound shortly after the vans departed,
witnesses said. The group seized the embassy around noon Friday and
threatened to execute one captive every half hour unless their demands for
helicopters were met.
Earlier Saturday the gunmen released two hostages -- a pregnant Thai
woman and a Myanmar man, who appeared unwell. Three other people either
escaped or were released Friday. Police said the gunmen were armed with
AK-47 rifles and grenades.
A statement faxed from inside the embassy said the attackers were
willing to "die in action".
"Eleven years after (the) nationwide democracy uprising Burma remains
under the oppressive military regime and the people are denied democracy
and human rights," the statement said, using the former name for
Myanmar. Earlier one of the hostage-takers, identifying himself as
"Johnny", told AFP by telephone: "If our demand is not met we will have to
kill (them). These people they are as good as dead."
Outside, army anti-terrorist troops and ambulances joined hundreds of
police surrounding the embassy. Myanmar student dissidents living in
Thailand have denied any link with the armed group inside the compound.
They said they knew of the leader "Johnny," whose real name was believed to
be Kyaw Oo, a 30-year-old former military cadet and warned his threat to
kill the hostages was likely to be serious.
The gunmen have also demanded Myanmar's military junta enter talks with
the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi. The NLD won 1990 elections, which were ignored by the military, but
has consistently rejected the use of force to bring about democratic
change. The United States has condemned the embassy attack.
"We strongly condemn this terrorist attack on a diplomatic
establishment and the taking of hostages, regardless of the perpetrators'
motives or demands," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters
in Washington. Thai officials earlier named 13 Myanmar diplomats who were
believed to be among the hostages captured Friday but said ambassador Hla
Maung and six other envoys were not there when it was stormed.
Nationals from Germany, France, Canada, Britain, Malaysia, Singapore,
India and Japan were also thought to be among the original hostages,
officials said. Some 15 to 20 Thais had also been inside the building,
according to police. The junta in Yangon has been condemned around the
world for widespread human rights abuses including the systematic rape and
torture of ethnic minorities, the use of slave labour and political
imprisonment.
Thin Myat Thu (Thida) Tel: + 47 22 414143
Web Editor Fax: + 47 22 413929
Democratic Voice of Burma http://www.communique.no/dvb