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February 23, 2015

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Myanmar rebels attack aid vehicle

Five people including a relief worker were wounded in an attack on a local aid organization’s vehicle in conflict-torn northeastern Myanmar, the group said yesterday, the second such attack within a week.

The vehicle carrying 13 people, mostly civilians and journalists, was attacked on Saturday afternoon as it traveled from Laukkai, a town in the northern state of Shan bordering China where battles between ethnic Kokang rebels and the Myanmar army have raged for nearly two weeks.

A “Myanmar Red Cross volunteer, a journalist and three civilians” were wounded in the attack, the Myanmar Red Cross Society said in a statement.

The incident came only four days after an attack on a convoy led by the Myanmar Red Cross, which left two aid workers wounded and forced local relief groups to suspend work in the region that tens of thousands have fled since the clashes erupted.

The Myanmar Red Cross is separate from the better-known International Committee of the Red Cross.

“I thought I was going to die,” one of the journalists in the vehicle that came under fire said, asking to remain anonymous.

“They fired continuously for half an hour,” he said, adding that the Red Cross-flagged vehicle appeared to have been “targeted” before the group were rescued by the Myanmar army.

Htun Myat Lin, spokesman for the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army, the main Kokang rebel group, denied his organization was behind the attack, and said the army was trying to “flare up” tensions between rebels and civilians.

Fighting has raged in the remote and rugged region after a series of surprise attacks launched on February 9 by the Kokang rebels.

Myanmar’s army said more than 130 people had died, declaring it would not rest until stability was restored to the border area which tens of thousands have fled.

The Kokang have been joined in their fight by other rebel groups, including the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the powerful Kachin Independence Army.

Chinese officials have stepped up border controls and called on all parties to prevent a further escalation of fighting.




 

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