BORDER BATTLE: Army hits Wa hard in dawn raid

12 of drug army's positions smashed in day of shelling 

By DON PATHAN
The Nation
Chiang Dao, Chiang Mai

Thai infantry units and armoured vehicles supported by artillery launched an all-out dawn offensive yesterday, destroying positions manned by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) along the Thai-Burmese border.

Burmese troops caught up in artillery fired by Thai troops.

Shelling of UWSA positions, which went on throughout the day, could be heard well inside Thai territory in border villages in Chiang Dao district. Artillery fire supported the advancing Thai soldiers, who are carrying out search-and-destroy missions against the UWSA's drug labs and military outposts just kilometres from the Burmese border.
At Ban Na Wai, a small Thai village about two kilometres from the border, about 60 Thais, mostly women and children, took refuge at a temple after fleeing their homes.

In a related development, rebel soldiers from the Shan State Army (SSA) also attacked both Wa positions and Burmese government positions, forcing more civilians from Burma's Shan State to flee over the border into Thailand.

Maj-General Pichanmeth Muangmanee, deputy commander of the Thai Third Army Region, told reporters that 150 refugees had fled into Thailand yesterday after a morning clash between the UWSA and SSA. Officially, the Army maintained that no Thai soldiers had crossed into Burmese territory.

Meanwhile in Bangkok Army spokesman Colonel Somkuan Saengpataranet denied any such raids had taken place, saying troops in northern Thailand were only taking part in an exercise, "Surasi 143". But eyewitnesses and intelligence officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this was not the case.

A dozen of the Wa's minor positions were destroyed in yesterday's raids but not the UWSA's three main strongholds of Kiw Cheng Kap, Don Fai and Kong Her Bin. Each of these is manned by between 200 and 300 soldiers, according to one estimate.

Armoured vehicles, soldiers from Special Forces units, Cavalry squadrons and artillery units have been seen taking up positions along the northern border in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces in the past few weeks.

In response to the moves by the Thai military, the Wa have reinforced their positions.
Military sources said the Burmese Army would not intervene to thwart the plan to destroy the UWSA, which Thailand claims is its main enemy because of its drug-related activities, adding that Rangoon had given the UWSA plenty of warnings to stop its illegal activities.
However, in Rangoon yesterday the Burmese Foreign Ministry summoned the Thai ambassador to receive a strongly worded official protest note over the incident.

Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win said the note contained details of an incident in which the Thai army used heavy artillery against outposts in Mongtong in eastern Shan State from before dawn.

"We protested in the strongest possible terms that the unprovoked attack violated our sovereignty and territorial integrity," Khin Maung Win was quoted as saying by Agence-France-Presse.
The Thai artillery attack came simultaneously as forces of Yawd Serk's Shan State Army crossed the border and attacked not only military outposts but also four other positions manned by the Wa, he said.

The 20,000-strong UWSA, a remnant of the now defunct Communist Party of Burma, entered into a cease-fire agreement with Rangoon in 1989 in return for limited self-rule.