Burma army might be behind last month

Burma army might be behind last month's school bus shooting, say Burma watchers 

One month to the day of the attack on the school bus that killed 3 students and wounded 12 others in Ratchaburi Province, some Thai security officials in the north have expressed deep suspicion of involvement by the Burma army, based on sketchy reports received from across the border. 

"Some messages communicated to the border units, especially the one that was intercepted on 15 June, clearly suggest that the Burmese army is not above employing such deplorable tactics in order to stir Thai public hostility against Shans and Karens," commented one border security source. 

According to one of the message referred by him, the Rangoon high command, through the Triangle Region headquarters in eastern Shan State, issued a directive to units along the border to launch surprise strikes at important targets inside Thai territory such as prominent buildings and army installations. They were particularly instructed to use the army's latest acquisition, the MA automatic rifles loaded with 5.56 cartridges in order to impress Thai troops as being attacked by Karen and Shan rebels, whose standard weapon is the M-16 that employs cartridges of similar caliber. In addition, the raiding parties were to leave contrivances commonly used by the rebels. 

"The problem with the report on the Ratchaburi incident was that there wasn't enough data to build up a solid case against the Burmese army," said another official. 

According to him, Brig General Htein Win, Commander of the Military Operations Management Command #8, stationed in Tavoy, had inquired by radio on 5 June, the day after the event, whether the mission went well. When Lt-Col Khin Maung Aye, Commander of IB 280, who was responsible for the security of Kamaplaw, opposite Ratchaburi, replied in the affirmative, he was reported to have retorted that the battalion commander had failed to follow the necessary security measures strictly. "Unfortunately, there were no further details to back up the information", he conceded. 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was quick to say it was unlikely that the attackers were from the Burma Army since the shooting took place some 20 km inside Thailand.