Thai bus shooting 'not political'

Bus driver Thongmorn Khemthong gestures as he explains to a policeman how the gunman attacked the school bus

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A school bus shooting that threatened to derail fragile relations between Thailand and Myanmar was not political but motivated by a debt argument, according to a senior Thai army official.

The attack that killed three students and heightened Thai-Myanmar border tensions last week, was due to a debt squabble involving ethnic Karens, the officer said on Tuesday.

General Panlop Pinmanee, deputy chief of Thai army intelligence, told Thai media the three gunmen, who fired M-16 rifles at the bus in western Ratchaburi province last week, were trying to stop the bus to collect a debt payment from its driver.

The attack had heightened already bad feeling between Yangon and Bangkok where tempers had flared last month after Myanmar accused Thailand of supporting ethnic rebel groups fighting the Yangon junta. Thailand denied the charge.

Bus driver Thongmorn Khemtong told police last week he managed to speed away from the scene of the ambush on a road about 20 km (13 miles) from the Myanmar border after the masked gunmen, dressed in jungle fatigues, opened fire.

Thongmorn said he did not know the motive of the ambush and was not involved in any personal conflict with any group, Reuters news agency reported.

Panlop said he believed the attackers were fighters from the Karen National Union (KNU) operating on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Durain Homeseat tends his daughter Kanjana Homeseat, 13, injured in the shooting

The KNU, which has campaigned for an autonomous Karen state in eastern Myanmar for decades, has issued a statement denying any role in the attack.

"Our information indicates that they were Karen soldiers... intelligence showed they had intended to collect debt from the driver," the general said.

Panlop said he would meet a senior KNU officer near the border later on Tuesday to get more information on the case.

Borders sealed

Tensions have risen between Thailand and Myanmar, with Myanmar accusing Thailand of backing the KNU and another ethnic army, the Shan State Army (SSA), a charge Bangkok denies.

Intense fighting in eastern Myanmar between government troops and ethnic guerrillas has killed dozens and threatens to spill over into neighbouring Thailand.

The Myanmar army and its allies in the United Wa State Army have been attacking positions held by the SSA opposite Thailand's Chiang Mai province, in a battle for territory and for control of the drugs trade.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has sealed major border crossings and this week warned Thailand not to get involved in its assault on the Shan.

Thailand's government has tried to defuse the mounting tension and has said Myanmar troops are not a threat as they are fighting rebel groups and not launching a strike into Thai soil.