Monday, June 8, 2009

Over 3,000 Karen villagers flee Burmese military to Thailand

More than 3,000 ethnic Karen have fled fighting in Burma for refuge on the Thai border, the largest such exodus since 1997, a human rights group said Sunday.

"As of Saturday, over 3,000 villagers have fled the area of Ler Per Her internally displaced persons' camp in Dta Greh township, Pa'an district to seek refuge in neighbouring Thailand," the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said.

The KHRG, set up in 1992 to monitor the six-decade Burma-Karen conflict, claimed it was the biggest exodus since 1997, when the Burmese army launched a massive offensive in the Karen State and forced tens of thousands of the ethnic minority group into Thailand.

This month's influx of refugees was sparked by attacks on Karen villages by the Burmese military and their allied forces of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the KHRA said.//DPA

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