No.14 - 04/2004
24 April 2006

War

Stand off on the border

A junta column and the Shan State Army patrol that fought on Friday, 21 April, are still facing each other off on the border between Monghsat (Shan State) and Chiangrai (Thailand), according to sources on the border.

The SSA meanwhile has confirmed that the 4 captured dead were only pro-Rangoon militiamen. Shan fighters attempting to look for more casualties and incriminating evidence of drugs left behind by the Burma Army column on the killing field are being picked off by Burmese snipers. "We are also reciprocating the Burmese (Army) hospitality by subjecting their soldiers to the same treatment whenever they try to recover anything on the battlefield," chuckled Lt-Col Gawnzuen, Commander of the SSA's Loi Kawwan-based Kengtung Front.

A reliable source from Tachilek meanwhile says senior Thai drug enforcement officials have been invited to attend "some sort of ceremony" in Kengtung to be held on Wednesday, 26 April.

Related report: First border clash in years, 22 April 2006