Myanmar student gunmen release hostages, leave Thai capital

October 3, 1999
Web posted at: 5:16 a.m. HKT (2116 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- The student gunmen who stormed the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand released their hostages and were flown to an area along the border between the two countries Saturday afternoon, Thai security officials said.

The gunmen released two hostages earlier Saturday, then traded the remainder for two senior Thai government officials. Thai acting Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and a senior refugee official, Chaiyapruek Sawaengcharoen, acted as a guarantee of safety while the students -- who demanded democratic reforms in their home country -- left Bangkok.

Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said Saturday a total of 89 people were taken hostage by just five attackers. They seized the embassy Friday morning.

Sanan told a news conference that earlier reports of many more attackers had been wrong.

"We have checked carefully, and now know there were only five dissidents involved." He said the Thai government had given the attackers safe passage out of Bangkok because it did not consider them "terrorists" but people seeking democracy in their own country.

The government of Myanmar, formerly Burma, has refused to convene the parliament legally elected in 1990. The rebels want all political prisoners in their homeland released and for the government to allow that parliament to assume office.

The students, who called themselves the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, warned Myanmar's government would be "fully responsible for the consequences of this action" if ignored their demands. Other dissident groups have distanced themselves from the militants who seized the embassy.

Myanmar authorities closed all border crossing points with Thailand and will not allow any land entry into Myanmar until further notice. Myanmar authorities would not explicitly say their action was directly related to the hostage situation in Bangkok.

Several dozen Myanmar diplomats, officials and members of the public were held captive by the dissidents during the siege, but none were injured, officials said. The hostages included a large number of other Asian and Western nationals.

The rebels left the embassy in two vans, releasing most of their more than 30 hostages as they departed.

Negotiations resumed Saturday after being suspended for several hours. Earlier, senior police officials had bargained with the students, offering to trade food and water for the release of the hostages.

Bangkok Bureau Chief John Raedler and Reuters contributed to this report.