Head of Myanmar's Karen rebels killed in northern Thailand

A top leader of Myanmar's rebel Karen National Union (KNU) was likely killed by a professional hitman, possibly hired by a splinter group aligned with the ruling junta, a KNU spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman said a rival group probably ordered the assassination of Pado Manh Sha to sow divisions in the already weakened rebellion which has been battling Myanmar's rulers for nearly six decades.

Two shot dead Pado Manh Sha, the KNU's secretary-general based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, at his home on Thursday, Thai police said.

One the most prominent figures in the KNU, he was also a critical link between the rebellion and the pro-democracy movement inside Myanmar.

KNU David Thaw said the group's leadership would gather yesterday in Mae Sot to make funeral preparations and try to unravel the mystery of his killing.

"There's a lot of confusion," he said by telephone.

"At the moment we think that it must be someone trying to create problems for the Karen, to create more disunity and divisions among each other," he said. "It might be a professional killer, so someone might have hired this gunman. It is a very cold-blooded killer who can kill Pado Manh Sha at his house."

"The gunshot was very accurate for someone to die instantly," he said.

Thai said they were combing through Pado Manh Sha's two-story house to search for clues, but admitted they were struggling to find a solid lead.

"We are investigating to look for more evidence," a senior provincial police officer said.

A Thai military officer in Mae Sot said on condition of anonymity that investigators believe the killing was likely committed by a Karen splinter group such as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

Most Karen are Christians, but the DKBA has broken away and aligned itself with Myanmar's junta, which has ruled the country since 1962.

The KNU is the largest rebel group fighting against Myanmar's armed forces and one of the few remaining ethnic insurgencies that has yet to sign a peace deal with the junta.

The group once controlled broad swaths of eastern Myanmar but now is reduced mainly to a string of bases pressed against the Thai border.