Report: Ethnic rebels torch sawmill, kill 8 workers in Myanmar

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Ethnic Shan rebels set fire to a sawmill and slashed eight workers to death in northeastern Myanmar, state media reported Saturday. The attack by the Shan State Army, one of several ethnic insurgency groups in Myanmar, occurred Wednesday, the New Light of Myanmar said. Government troops were pursuing the rebels, who had captured a village official. One of the surviving mill workers was being treated at a hospital for stab wounds, the paper said. The ruling junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has reached peace agreements with 17 armed ethnic groups. But others are still fighting for autonomy from the central government.