Nine Burmese job seekers were killed by unknown gunmen near the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, Thai police reported.
A Thai police official in Phop Phra, in western Thailand’s Tak Province, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the nine victims were among a party of 12 Burmese job seekers traveling from Mae Sot last Thursday.
Four of the dead were women. The remaining three Burmese escaped.
A Phop Phra police official said the killers were being sought.
The bodies of the dead were discarded in various locations, the official said.
According to media reports, the killers demanded 1,000 baht (US $33) from each of the job seekers.
The Thai news agency Manager online said local Thai militia were suspected of killing the job seekers. Myo Zaw, officer in charge of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, said job seekers were frequently targeted by local gunmen. It was one of the hazards they faced in seeking employment in Thailand, he said.
Of the 3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, an estimated 200,000 live in and around Mae Sot.
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