AFP : Gunmen fly out of Bangkok hol

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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