22: 17 killed in clashes between Myanmar government, rebels

 
Seventeen ethnic minority villagers have been killed in Myanmar in clashes between the military and an insurgent group battling the junta, state-run media has reported.

The fighting occurred in eastern Shan state on September 15, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said, killing elderly people, women and children in four villages.

The newspaper said that 73 houses were burnt down during clashes involving a Shan rebel group called the Shan State Army-South, one of 17 ethnic rebel groups that have fought against the military government for decades.

Most have signed ceasefires with the junta, and in July the government claimed that a group of nearly 850 fighters from the Shan State Army-South had surrendered and handed over their weapons.

But a month later Myanmar's junta declared that the group, led by rebel leader Ywet Sit, were "terrorists" and blamed them for a range of attacks over the last decade.

Shan rebels have been fighting the junta for autonomy in Shan state on Myanmar's eastern border with Thailand.

The rebels have split into several factions, but the Shan State Army-South is one of the largest with some 5,000 members.

Human Rights Watch last year accused Myanmar of waging a campaign of torture, rape and execution against ethnic Shan villagers and forcing the displacement of thousands.

But Myanmar has repeatedly blamed the rebels for civilian deaths.

"Ywet Sit's terrorist group is committing terrorist acts against the state and the people by killing innocent people, planting mines, putting villages to torch and seizing villagers," the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Myanmar has increasingly begun referring to its opponents as terrorists, including the opposition National League for Democracy led by detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Analysts have said that declaring its rivals as terrorists could forebode a new crackdown by the junta.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061002/wl_asia_afp/myanmarethnicunrest_061002081539