DATE=1/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=THAILAND-HOSPITAL SIEGE (L)
NUMBER=2-258444
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Thai authorities are denying published reports that
at least some of the Burmese dissidents killed in a hostage
rescue attempt were executed after surrendering. Thai
commandos early Tuesday stormed the hospital occupied by
ethnic Burmese insurgents, freeing all the hostages
unharmed and killing all the hostage takers. As VOA
correspondent Gary Thomas reports, there is overwhelming
public support for the government's resolution of the
crisis.
TEXT: Thai authorities are denying reports that at least
some of the 10 ethnic Burmese insurgents who occupied a
hospital were murdered by Thai security forces.
Armed with grenades and automatic weapons, the 10 members
of the self-styled "God's Army" took over the hospital in
Ratchaburi Monday morning and demanded that Thailand help
their movement. The group is a breakaway faction of the
main Karen insurgency against the Rangoon government.
Nearly twenty-four hours into the siege, authorities gave
the military the green light to mount an assault. The
predawn lightning raid freed all the hostages, while all
the gunmen were killed.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said the hostage rescue
operation was so swift that none of the hostage takers had
time to surrender. A government spokesman pointedly said
security forces did not sit them down and shoot them.
Reports of what happened in the predawn rescue raid are
somewhat conflicting. Several news outlets quote hostages
as saying they saw some of the gunmen surrender.
Only the Bangkok Post newspaper has what it says is an
eyewitness account of extrajudicial killings. It quotes a
hostage -- an unnamed hospital official - as saying she saw
commandos order the gunmen to strip off their clothes, then
shot them in the head.
Other newspapers speculated about the deaths because of the
state of the corpses. The bodies displayed to reporters
after the siege were wrapped in white sheets. One
newspaper's photographs of the corpses, taken before they
were shrouded, show them wearing only underwear.
In a telephone interview, military spokesman Lieutenant
General Sanan Kajornklam also denied the hostage takers
were executed.
// General Sanan Thai act //
He says the commandos are trained to shoot to kill,
especially with a shot to the head.
There is no perceptible public sympathy here for the
hostage takers and overwhelming support for the army's
action. Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart echoed the
prevailing public attitude when he said that the insurgents
got what they deserved because they brought trauma and
suffering to the Thai people.
Thai officials said Wednesday three of the 10 insurgents
had also taken part in the siege of the Burmese Embassy in
October. (SIGNED)
NEB/GPT/FC
26-Jan-2000 05:36 AM EDT (26-Jan-2000 1036 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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