11 villagers remain detained after Karen rebel steals gun from army
January 28, 2009
HURFOM: Eleven villagers are being detained as Burmese soldiers attempt to retrieve a pistol stolen by a Karen rebel in Lamine Township, Mon State.
In the second week of January, Military Operations Management Command No. 19, lead by military column commander Khin Maung Cho, arrested eleven villagers from Kanine Ka Moke village Lamine Township, Mon State.
“All of the victims are innocent people,” said a man, 36, from Kanine Ka Moke village. “There are four men and seven women, including a six year old girl and a seventy year old man.” As of January 27th, Light Infantry Battalion No. 587 was still holding all 11 villagers. HURFOM could not, however, confirm how they are being treated.
The arrests followed the theft of a pistol from captain Aung Win Zaw of LIB No. 597 in the third week of December. According to a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldier in the area, the 9 mm gun was snatched from the captain’s hip as he walked home. According to the KNLA soldier, as well as HURFOM’s field reporter in the area, a soldier from Column 4 of KNLA Battalion 16, Brigade 6, stole the gun.
LIB No. 587 has been trying to retrieve the pistol ever since, say local sources. According to a villager, Khin Maung Cho has been threatening villagers. “If I don’t get the gun back,” a villager quoted him as saying, “all of you will be put in jail.”
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