Karen leader gunned down

Undercover government agents blamed

The leader of Burma's Karen National Union, an ethnic movement waging the world's longest fight for independence, was assassinated in his Thailand border home today, according to reliable Karen sources.

Mahn Sha, 64, was gunned down by two men who entered his house in the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, in northern Thailand. He died instantly from chest wounds, according to a housemaid.

Stunned Karen officials blamed undercover Burmese govermment agents for the attack, but it is unclear how they could have penetrated the closely guarded border, marked by a river flowing west of the town.

Thai observers pointed out that Mahn Sha had made enemies within the KNU since taking over as KNU General Secretary following the death of the movement's previous leader, the charismatic General Saw Bo Mya in December 2006.

The KNU was formed in 1946 to protect Karen interests as Burma approached independence from British rule. Following independence in 1948, the movement declared war on the new Burmese government and has been fighting the Burmese army ever since.

The fighting has disrupted life in many parts of Burma's Karen State, leading to the displacement of whole communities and several cases of atrocities by Burmese army troops. In 1995, the KNU was ousted from its main base, the Burmese border town of Manerplaw, in a determined Burmese army assault.

In the following years the movement has been often embroiled in political infighting, and suffered a heavy blow when the 7th Brigade of its armed forces reached a ceasefire arrangement with the military regime.

FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 14, 2008