Myanmar boosts troops along Thailand border

Myanmar boosts troops along Thailand border

MAE HONG SON, Thailand (AFP): Myanmar troops are pouring into
border regions opposite Thailand's northern Mae Hong Son province
and may be preparing to attack refugee camps here, sources said
on Sunday.

Ethnic minority leaders and Thai intelligence sources said an
attack may be planned to retaliate for the seizure earlier this
month of Yangon's embassy in Bangkok by pro-democracy student
gunmen.

A senior Thai intelligence source told AFP he estimated the
number of Yangon's troops in the area had increased in recent
days from some 10,000 to between 20,000 and 30,000.

Karenni National Progressive Party deputy commander Maj. Gen.
Aung Myat also said government troops had moved closer to the
Thai border and may be preparing raids.

The Yangon junta closed the 2,401 kilometer border after five
gunmen stormed its Bangkok embassy on Oct. 1, holding nearly 40
people hostage for 24-hours.

The gunmen, who initially called for the junta to hold talks
with the democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, were
later provided with an escape helicopter to the border by Thai
authorities.

Myanmar officials while thanking Thailand for ending the
hostage drama peacefully have also accused Bangkok of being too
soft on the gunmen, and pressured authorities here to get tough
with exiled dissidents.

They say the border camps harbor armed anti-junta forces and
called for Thailand on Saturday to use an "iron first" to wipe
out terrorism.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency last Friday said it had
completed the movement of refugees from Huay Kalok camp in
northwestern Tak province deeper inside Thailand to reduce the
risk of cross-border raids by junta-backed guerrilla forces.

Thailand hosts some 100,000 Myanmar refugees, mainly of Karen
and Karenni ethnic origins, who have fled suppression of ethnic
insurgencies in military-run Myanmar.

Last year, several Karen refugees were killed and thousands
were made homeless when guerrilla forces backed by the junta
raided camps on Thai territory.

After the storming of the embassy, Thailand said it would
increase security at diplomatic missions and crack down on
several thousand exiled Myanmar students believed living here.

Bangkok and Yangon have been engaged in an escalating war of
words over the crisis, with senior Thai ministers arguing the
hostage-taking reinforced the need for democratic change inside
military-ruled Myanmar.

But Yangon has angrily denied any responsibility.