Dissidents give account of attack on Suu Kyi

ANGKOK, Thailand -- Screaming "die! "die!" a drunken mob of about 3,000 people -- some dressed as monks -- quickly surrounded activist Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy, stripping the clothes off supporters and beating them mercilessly with bats, rods and spears, Myanmar dissidents testified Friday.

The testimony by witnesses Khin Zaw and Wunna Maung before a Thai Senate panel was the most comprehensive and detailed yet of the May 30 violence that led to the Nobel laureate's arrest and the Myanmar government's crackdown on her pro-democracy party. Their statements also lend credibility to other opposition claims that up to 70 people were killed.

The men, both of whom are members Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, said they were in the convoy and witnessed the nighttime attack outside Depayin village in northern Myanmar.

Suu Kyi, the country's pro-democracy icon, was traveling in the area as part of her 15-year-old nonviolent campaign to restore democracy in the military-ruled country.

The government says four people were killed in the clash, claiming it was triggered by Suu Kyi's convoy plowing through peaceful pro-government demonstrators.

"I saw with my own eyes the attackers striking down the victims with all the force and stabbing viciously with pointed iron rods. Truly, it was a murderous attack. The beating was done until the victims died," U Khin Zaw, 50, told the Thai Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

"It appeared that the attackers were systematically trained. They mainly aimed and struck on the head. Even when I was at a 100 yards, I heard with anguishing pain the popping sounds of heads being broken by savage blows," said U Khin Zaw.

He said the attackers used iron rods and spears, bamboo sticks and wooden bats. Some came in trucks from behind to block the retreat while many more emerged from bushes along the road where they were hiding.

The attackers numbered about 3,000 while Suu Kyi's convoy of 10 cars and 20 motorcycles comprised about 300-400 people, he said. About 500 other supporters were stopped earlier by security forces and not allowed to proceed with the convoy, he said.

The testimonies did not say how many people were killed. The two men said they had no way of knowing that, because they fled for their lives. They were in constant fear of being arrested until they reached Thailand.

Wunna Maung, 26, said he was one car behind Suu Kyi's car at the head of the convoy when the attack began.

Suu Kyi "escaped beating because she did not get out of the car ... the attackers were totally drunk," he said.

As Suu Kyi's car sped away, the mob attacked women in another car, "pulling off their blouses and sarongs."

"When the victims, covered in blood, fell to the ground, I saw (that) the attackers jumped on them and wrapped the hair around their heads and pounded the heads against (the) stone surface of the road."

All the while, the killers shouted "'die, die,"' he said.

After providing the testimony, the two men went into hiding at the United Nations office in Bangkok, apparently seeking political refuge. Unless they are provided with refugee status, they face arrest in Thailand for entering the country illegally. U.N. officials refused to comment.

A senior Thai Foreign Ministry official said later that a deal was reached with them under which Thai authorities would not arrest them as long as they spoke no more with the press.

The Thai Senate committee invited the two men to speak so that both sides of the story could be heard, said Sunai Phasuk, an adviser to the panel. So far only the junta has given its version.

The committee was told that Suu Kyi escaped in her car from the clash site but was detained along with dozens of supporters soon afterward.

She has been held incommunicado since then despite an international outcry and sanctions by the European Union and the United States.