木姐-棒赛公路发生武装人员攻击民用货车事件

kokangnews

    掸邦警察指挥官Aung Myat Moe说，约15名身着迷彩服的男子周二实施了手榴弹攻击。他们在边境城市木姐和棒赛段公路上让卡车司机靠边停车。
    没有受伤报告，但一辆货车被毁。

    这辆卡车从木姐105英里界碑贸易区驶来。该贸易区是中缅边境一个大型贸易场，占跨境贸易的70%。
    警察指挥官说：“我们得到的报告是，一群15个身着迷彩服的男子走向一辆满载西瓜的卡车，问乘员是否收到一封勒索钱的信件。驾驶员说他们收到了，这时一名袭击者吼道：‘那你为什么还不付钱？’并将一颗自制炸弹扔进了前排座位。”
    驾驶员逃脱了，但卡车被爆炸摧毁。
    “他们还用同样方式攻击了另一辆运输水果的卡车，但没有爆炸。” Aung Myat Moe说。
    警察指挥官称，克钦独立军在攻击发生的这一地区活动，而且他们因勒索地方商人而“臭名昭著”。
    克钦组织发言人拉南证实克钦独立军第九旅以棒赛公路地区为根据地，但否认士兵勒索当地商人。
    “当地为我第九旅巡防区，但其他武装组织也有巡逻，也许是一些投机取巧的人伪装成民团团员借机作案。”他周二对本社说：“只要发生这类事便有人指向克钦独立军，通常如此。”
    尚未发现周二货车攻击事件与果敢冲突有关，此前也未曾发生过非军事车辆遭伏击之事。

Grenade attacks on fruit trucks near Muse
By NAW NOREEN  25 February 2015 DVB
Two freight trucks carrying fruit became the latest targets in a series of roadside attacks on vehicles in northeastern Shan State as hostilities continue in the region between Kokang rebels and Burmese government forces.
Police Commander Aung Myat Moe of the Shan State Police said an attack using hand grenades was carried out on Tuesday by about 15 unidentified men in camouflage uniforms who pulled the truck drivers over on the highway between the border towns of Muse and Pangsai [also written Pang Hseng].
No one was reported injured, but one of the lorries was destroyed.
The trucks were en route from Muse’s 105-mile Trade Zone, a large trading camp at the Sino-Burmese border which handles up to 70 percent of all cross-border trade.
“It was reported to us that a group of 15 men in camouflage uniforms approached a truck full of watermelons,” the police commander said. “They asked the occupants of the vehicle if they had received a letter demanding extortion money. When the drivers said that they had, one of the assailants shouted, ‘Then why didn’t you pay?’ and threw a homemade bomb into the front seat.”
The drivers evidently escaped but the truck was destroyed by the blast.
“They also attacked another fruit truck in the same manner, however the device failed to explode,” said Aung Myat Moe.
The police commander said that units of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are active in the area where the attack took place, and that they are “notorious” for extorting local businesses.
“They usually send out letters demanding money from local businessmen and threaten them with violence if they do not pay up,” he said.
La Nan, a spokesperson for the Kachin rebel group, confirmed that the KIA’s 9th Brigade is based in the Pangsai highway area but denied that its soldiers extort local businesspeople.
“This area is patrolled by our 9th Brigade, but also by other armed groups and perhaps even some opportunists disguised as militiamen who are taking advantage and committing crimes,” he told DVB on Tuesday. “It is not unusual that someone points a finger at the KIA whenever such an incident happens.”
It is unclear whether the KIA is allied with Kokang rebels against government forces in the most recent outbreak of violence in the restive region, which began on 9 February when Kokang units of the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) launched an attack on Burmese army positions in and around the town of Laogai.
No connection has been drawn between Tuesday’s attack on the freight trucks and the Kokang conflict, nor to recent incidents where non-military vehicles have been ambushed.