BP: Reports of shelling at Thailand

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Reports of shelling at Thailand's Mae La refugee camp

posted at 16:20 hrs (Bangkok time) 

BANGKOK, March 15 -- One Karen refugee was reportedly injured when two mortar shells
landed on the Mae La camp in northern Thailand's Tak province Sunday, according to unconfirmed
reports. 

Sources based near the camp said the shells hit at about 1pm (0600 GMT), but Thai military
officers could not confirm the report. 

Mae La camp houses some 30,000 Karen refugees loyal to Karen National Union (KNU) General
Bo Mya, the leader of Myanmar's (Burma's) last ethnic resistance movement. 

Thai security forces at Mae La were checking all traffic going in and out of the camp Sunday and
confirmed that they had heard rumours of a pending attack from Myanmar-based troops. 

The KNU Saturday said fighters from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and
Myanmar government forces had crossed the border and were threatening to attack Mae La, which
lies eight kilometers (five miles) inside Thailand. 

Thailand's military chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro toured the border area Sunday as rumours
persisted that Myanmar-based troops were poised to launch more attacks, army sources said. 

Chettha flew to the trouble zone to inspect Mae La and other areas likely to be raided in the wake
of a vicious attack on Karen refugees last week which killed three civilians and left about 9000
people homeless. 

On Wednesday, 70 to 100 troops crossed the border and attacked nearby Huay Kalok camp,
killing three refugees and setting fire to more than 1,000 dwellings. 

Thailand has since boosted troop numbers along the border but sources in Mae La said refugees
still feared for their safety. 

The Thai military was accused of doing nothing to stop last week's raid on Huay Kalok, which
housed almost 10,000 refugees. 

The United Nations and other aid organisations have urged the Thai government to ensure the
security of refugees living on Thai soil as tensions along the frontier mount. 

The Thai military has denied accusations it did nothing to protect refugees during last week's assault.

That attack was condemned by the US government, which accused Yangon (Rangoon) of waging a
''campaign of terror'' against Karen refugees in Thailand. (AFP)