Action urged on Burmese 'abuse'

Karen groups say thousands of villagers have fled their homes

The Human Rights Watch group has called for urgent international action to halt what it calls the killing and abuse of the ethnic Karen community in Burma.

A Karen rebel group also called on the army to end an offensive it says has forced thousands of villagers to flee.

The government has previously denied an offensive is underway and says security measures target "terrorist insurgents".

Karen rebels have been fighting the government for decades in an attempt to achieve greater autonomy.

Refugees

Human Rights Watch said the UN Security Council and the Association of South-East Asian Nations should take action over abuses in Burma.

The [army] are shelling the villages with heavy weapons, forcing the villagers to relocate Karen National Union statement

It said more than 10,000 ethnic Karen villagers had been displaced since November and had been put at risk by the planting of landmines.

The New York-based group pointed to the UN Security Council's resolution in April to protect civilians from genocide.

Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, said: "The UN has just committed itself again to protecting civilians at risk, and thousands of Burmese are in urgent need of such help.

"Without swift and decisive Security Council action, the killings and abuses there will not stop."

Neighbouring Thailand says almost 2,000 Karen refugees have fled there from the region around the new Burmese administrative capital, Pyinmana.

Thailand hosts about 140,000 refugees from Burma in nine camps.

There have been persistent reports in recent months of a renewed offensive by the Burmese army to clear suspected Karen separatists from the Pyinmana area.

The military government says no offensive is under way and denies its soldiers have violated human rights.

But the Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group, the largest still fighting the army, has called for a ceasefire, saying thousands of Karen have fled.

"They are shelling the villages with heavy weapons, forcing the villagers to relocate, and burning down the villages, orchards, forests, farms and rice barns," it said in a statement.

Senior rebel commanders told Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that the army had launched an attack on a KNU brigade headquarters 5km (three miles) from the Thai border.

They said the attackers withdrew but that more attacks were expected.