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| Published in Washington, D.C. January 27, 2000 |
Burmese rebels reportedly slain by police
By Richard S. Ehrlich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
BANGKOK, Thailand
Witnesses say Thai security forces killed all 10 God's Army rebels, secretly executing some of the Burmese guerrillas at point-blank range inside the hospital where they held hundreds of hostages, Thai newspapers reported yesterday.
"Shot one by one," reported the respected Bangkok Post in a front-page headline which added, "Witnesses inside the hospital accused the police of the summary execution of the terrorists."
The Nation newspaper, meanwhile, reported, "Just hours later, all 10 guerrillas were underground -- secretly and quickly buried."
One member of the Thai "crack team" assembled to free hundreds of hostages trapped inside the hospital in the town of Ratchaburi included a senior police officer who "has a reputation for extra-judicial killings," the Nation said.
Part of the problem faced by Thailand's military in dealing with the hostage standoff was that it began on Monday, the eve of Thai Army Day, and the military apparently did not want its celebrations marred by an embarrassing focus on Burmese guerrillas
The annual holiday commemorates an ancient epic battle between Thailand and Burma in which Thai forces, on elephants, triumphed over Burmese invaders -- an event taught to every Thai schoolchild as part of this Southeast Asian nation's nationalistic fervor.
Ten heavily armed members of a self-proclaimed "God's Army" entered Thailand from their base in Burma, took over the large hospital and demanded the Thai army stop bombing Burma's minority ethnic Karen refugees and others along the frontier.
Thai officials strenuously denied purposely bombarding any innocent civilians, and said they had shelled the border zone as a "warning" to the Burmese guerrillas.
In a predawn raid Tuesday, hundreds of Thai military, police and other special forces stormed the hospital and opened fire, successfully freeing hundreds of patients, visitors and medical staff.
They then displayed 10 corpses, all wrapped like mummies in white sheets stained with blood, including some with red splotches on their heads.
At least eight Thai security forces were hospitalized with injuries after the assault. At least four patients died from illnesses, unable to be attended by medical staff, while the 24-hour siege dragged on.
The Bangkok Post, however, quoted one hospital official who was on the hospital's second floor during the siege. The official claimed to have witnessed Thai forces executing some God's Army rebels at point-blank range.
"The woman official, who asked not to be identified, said she took cover on the floor of the room where she had stayed and saw the police team hold the rebels at gunpoint," the report said.
"'They were shot in the head after they had been told to undress and kneel down,' said the official," the paper added. The hospital employee did not elaborate.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai would not comment directly on the paper's report, but said the controversy was a sign of success.
"If some Thai officials had died in this operation, the questions would change to, 'Why did we send our officials to die?'" Mr. Chuan said after a security meeting to review the crisis.
Security forces made no mention of any reputed executions.
"We followed the [guerrillas] inside the building," said Police Sgt. Maj. Banjong Santantuk. "We broke the window panes with our rifle butts and that's how I injured my hand."
Another official, Police Sgt. Maj. Saneh Singpu, said, "I feel so proud to have been part of the operation. But I feel pity for my colleagues who were injured.
"My team killed two of the Karen," Sgt. Saneh added.
One hostage, Decha Yoowong, 32, said, "We were all prepared to die," especially after seeing some of the God's Army insurgents pull out hand grenades and reach for the safety pins, apparently in a suicidal bid to blow the place up after Thai security forces began their raid.
"They were about to remove the safety pins soon after the commandos broke through the hospital gates. But we persuaded them not to do so," the hostage said.