Burma hunts 2,000 fleeing civilians

BURMESE troops are hunting down 2,000 civilians hiding in the jungle after being driven from their homes in a brutal offensive against the Karen ethnic minority, reports from Burma said yesterday.

The troops were four hours’ walk from the refugees, who had split into groups of 300-400, said a member of the Free Burma Rangers contacted by satellite telephone as he moved with one of the groups.

The rangers, who include Western and ethnic volunteers, provide aid to some of the estimated one million people displaced in Burma by decades of conflict between the military regime and ethnic minorities seeking autonomy.