Burmese Rebel Leader Assassinated in Thailand

One of Myanmar's top rebel leaders was shot dead in his home in Thailand today, Reuters reports. Mahn Sha Lar Phan was the secretary-general of the Karen National Unit, the largest rebel group in the former Burma. His son, another senior leader, immediately blamed the attack on a splinter group allied with Burma's ruling junta.

One Myanmar analyst called Mahn Sha an “articulate strategist and a unifying figure.” The assassins approached him at his home in a Thai border town and asked, “How are you uncle?” before shooting him and escaping in their running pickup. “Everybody is terrified that there could be a hit list from the Burmese military circulating around Thailand,” another analyst said. (More Myanmar stories.)