KNU: More Leaders Targeted for Assassination

By SAW YAN NAING - The Irrawaddy News

February 16, 2008 - Two more senior military leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) are on Karen splinter groups’ hit lists, according to KNU sources.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Friday and Saturday, a KNU senior officer said that Gen Mu Tu, commander in chief of the KNU’s military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and Brig-Gen Jonny, commander of KNLA Brigade 7, were targets for assassination by both the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

The claims follow the assassination of Mahn Sha, general secretary of the KNU, on Thursday.

“Ever since Htain Maung defected, he has always planned to kill the KNU’s top leaders,” said a KNU source who works closely with the KNU leadership.

Maj-Gen Htain Maung led some 300 soldiers from Brigade 7 in defecting to the Burmese army in February 2007. His splinter group is now known as KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

Another KNU source said that speculation had been rife that Mahn Sha was assassinated by the DKBA, which who split from the rebel coalition in 1995.

Mahn Sha was secretary general of the KNU, an ethnic rebel group that has been fighting for independence since 1949.

The source said that two days ago before Mahn Sha’s assassination, a DKBA member named Soe Myint, also known as San Pyote, called a friend of hers who was living in the same house as Mahn Sha and asked for the address of his home. San Pyote said that he was interested in buying Mahn Sha's car.

San Pyote belongs to the DKBA Battalion 999.

However, a DKBA source has denied the accusation.

He said, “It is not possible—the DKBA split from the KNU more than 10 years ago. After Mahn Sha was killed, even some of the DKBA’s leadership called me and asked me what happened.”

Mahn Sha had received phone threats before his assassination, said Blooming Night Zar, an acting contact person regarding the death of Mahn Sha.

She said, “On Karen Revolution Day, an unknown man phoned Mahn Sha and said to him, ‘I will come and shoot you!’”

KNU sources claim that prior to Thursday’s assassination, about 20 spies from the DKBA were assigned and deployed in the Mae Sot area for purposes of assassination. Sources believe the plot to kill Mahn Sha was well planned weeks in advance.

Assassinations among the KNU, the DKBA and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council have increased since the defection of Htain Maung’s faction.

After the assassinations of Lt-Col Kyi Linn, a commander of the KNLA, in August 2007, who met secretly with Lt-Col Min Chit Oo of the Burmese Southeast Military Affairs Security department, and Col Ler Moo, the son-in-law of Htain Maung, who was killed last month, Mahn Sha and Jonny were blamed for masterminding the plots and were targeted for assassination, a KNU source said.

Meanwhile, opposition groups in exile have accused the Burmese military regime of being responsible for Mahn Sha’s assassination.

In November 2007, San Pyote tried to kill Brig-Gen Jonny, a KNU official from Brigade 7.

“All this is enough to make the Burmese government very happy,” Brig-Gen Jonny told The Irrawaddy. “We Karen people should be unified. If we are divided, we will never achieve self-determination and the rights we demand.”