God's Army twins captured

Johnny Htoo (centre) and God's Army bodyguards

By Simon Ingram in Bangkok

Police in Thailand say the twin teenage leaders of a rebel group opposed to the military government in neighbouring Burma have surrendered, together with some of their followers.

According to reports reaching Bangkok, the twins - Johnny and Luther Htoo - were found just inside the Thai border, along with 12 fellow members of the God's Army, an ethnic Karen group which has been blamed for a number of armed attacks in Thailand over the past year.

The reported capture of the youthful and enigmatic leaders of the God's Army rebels follows weeks of intensified military activity along the remote and forested land border between Thailand and Burma.

Thai soldiers have been trying to track down two guerrillas, allegedly God's Army members, accused of staging a raid on a Thai border village in late December, in which six people were killed.

Military sources in Bangkok say an army patrol stumbled on the twins - Johnny and Luther - along with 12 other men, women and children 200 metres inside Thai territory.

The rebel group gave themselves up without fight, although a cache of weapons, including automatic rifles, was found nearby.

The God's Army are ethnic Karen, a people whose decades-old struggle against Burma's military government has left hundreds of thousands of them marooned in refugee camps along the border.

The group is small in number and led, at least nominally, by the twins, who are believed to possess magical powers that make them invincible in battle.

The God's Army achieved a notoriety far exceeding its military capabilities after it was blamed for holding hundreds of people hostage at a Thai hospital in January last year.

The group's denial of responsibility failed to prevent a major crackdown on the region by the Thai military in close collaboration with their Burmese counterparts.