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09/13/2004:

"Children of Laos tribe 'butchered by soldiers'"

by Kim Sengupta
Laotian forces have been accused of raping, disembowelling and murdering children belonging to the minority Hmong tribe in a campaign of state-sponsored terror.

The human rights group Amnesty International says that the attacks, allegedly carried out three months ago, constituted war crimes and violations of international humanitarian laws by the Laos government.

The group says it has credible evidence that "scores of civilians, mainly children" were killed by troops or later died from their injuries, lack of medical aid and starvation.

In one incident, up to 40 Laotian soldiers were said to have been responsible for mutilating and killing five children aged from 13 to 16. Four of the victims, who were girls, were "apparently raped before being killed".

The soldiers are said to have found the children, belonging to a community which supposedly supported rebels fighting the country's Marxist government, foraging for food in the jungle. Others in the group managed to escape, but some were wounded by shots fired by troops

Full Article: Independent UK