DKBA targets Karen refugees in Thailand
Posted on June 25, 2009
Filed Under Burma news, Karen news | Comments Off
Karen refugees take shelter in Thailand source: Bangkok Post
Two Karen refugees in Thailand are dead, apparently killed in a cross border attack by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a pro-junta militia group.
The refugees were among the 4,000 Karen villagers who are believed to have fled to Thailand in recent weeks to escape a joint offensive by the DKBA and Burmese Army against the Karen National Union (KNU).
According to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), DKBA soldiers entered Thebayhta village in Thailand’s Tha Song Yan province and questioned two Karen men about KNU activities. When the men said they knew nothing, they were shot.
The DKBA has crossed into Thailand in the past in order to attack KNLA positions from Thai soil and has even engaged Thai security forces (see: Thai soldiers injured in clash with DKBA) and has also threatened to shell Thai villages (see: DKBA threatens to shell Thai village)
Refugees have also been told their homes will be confiscated if they do not return. DVB quotes Karen relief workers as saying villagers are afraid of getting caught in the clashes if they return home.
At the beginning of June, the joint DKBA-Burmese Army force began an offensive against the area under the control of the Karen National Liberation Army’s 7th Brigade.
The increased military presence in the area forced thousands of villagers to flee, both to avoid the fighting and to avoid being forcibly conscripted to serve as porters (see: Villagers flee offensive as Thailand prepares for influx of refugees).
7th Brigade’s headquarters, one of the KNLA’s last remaining major bases along the Thai-Burma border fell to the joint force earlier this week (see: 7th Brigade Headquarters falls).
The KNLA is the armed wing of the KNU. The DKBA split from the KNU in 1995 and signed a peace treaty with Burma’s ruling military junta.
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