Thais shoot out with intruders

Thai-Burma relations

Thais shoot out with intruders

At 10:00 this morning, 5 armed men, believed to be Burmese soldiers from across the border entered Doilang, the area under dispute between Burma's Monghsat and Thailand's Mae Ai.

Informed by the villagers, a Border Patrol Police unit went into the area to hunt for the armed men. In the ensuing shootout, one BPP officer was wounded and later died at the hospital, according to a BPP source.

"The Burmese military however had denied anyone of their men was missing," he said, "and even insinuating that they might be the Shan State Army men from Sanzu (SSA base across the neighboring district of Fang)".

Some Thai officers, unfamiliar with the local terrain, thought it was likely the SSA would do anything to stir up "bad blood" between the two countries. "But we told them it was impossible as the SSA would have to slip through hostile forces to reach Doilang. Moreover, security is especially tight at the Pha Hom Pook Royal Project between Sanzu and Doilang," he explained.

The five intruders are still at large at the time of this reporting (15:30). A local Lahu source put the number at 4 and added that 1 was wounded during the exchange of fire.