Karen rebels seize hospital in Thailand

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JAN. 24. A standoff between Thailand's security forces and a heavily armed group of 10 or more Karen rebels from the neighbouring Myanmar at a hospital complex at Ratchaburi, about 100 km to the west of the Thai capital, Bangkok, remained unresolved by nightfall today.

The gunmen, suspected to be armed with hand grenades and assault rifles, had seized the hospital and taken several hundred persons - patients, doctors and others - hostage shortly after daybreak.

While over 10 hostages were released by the masked rebels belonging to the so-called ``God's Army'', a splinter group of the main Karen National Union rebels, others remained in captivity, their numbers variously estimated at between 200 and 500 in reports from the scene. Some hostages were said to have escaped through a rear door of the hospital complex.

There were, however, no reports of any casualties at the hands of the gunmen, although they had apparently fired warning shots as they took over the building. It was suspected that the militants had either mined or strewn explosives around the hospital complex in an obvious attempt at preventing the security forces from storming the compound. It was not immediately possible to obtain official confirmation of this.

Thai political and security officials, who seemed to have begun negotiations with the hostage-takers, did not give out any details even 12 hours after the crisis began.

Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, went to the scene to try and secure the release of the hostages. By nightfall, however, he had no good news to report on the state of negotiations.

Dr. Sukhumbhand had helped resolve the hostage crisis last October when some ``pro-democracy'' rebels opposed to the military regime in Yangon seized the Myanmarese embassy in Bangkok. That student group is allied to ``God's Army''. The Thai authorities provided a safe passage to the gunmen who had seized the embassy, with Dr. Sukhumbhand escorting them to the border with Myanmar and playing the role of a proxy hostage. The Yangon regime, not amused at the way Thailand had let the rebels escape, scaled down its ties with Bangkok for several months thereafter.

With those so-called ``student warriors'' having been provided sanctuary by ``God's Army'' the present hostage crisis could not have come at a more awkward time for the Thai authorities.

At the political level, the initial demands by the ``God's Army'' militants, made known to Thai officials through messages handed to them across the gates of the hospital complex, pertained more to alleged actions by Bangkok and not Yangon. The demands were that Thai military personnel on the border with Myanmar should desist from any further (alleged) shooting of Karen rebels. Another condition for the release of the hostages was that the Thai authorities should allow a right of passage for Karen refugees and take steps to provide medical assistance to the rebels being wounded in their fighting with the Myanmarese military.

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Section  : International
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