¡¡¡¡YANGON, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The Myanmar government declared Tuesday it will not have peace talks with the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA), saying the SURA does not represent an ethnic group.

¡¡¡¡Meeting with the press, Major-General Kyaw Win, vice-chief of the Military Intelligence, said except SURA, an anti-government armed group, the government is keeping the door wide open for suchtalks with other anti-government armed groups including the Kayin National Union (KNU).

¡¡¡¡At the press briefing, Colonel San Pwint, deputy head of the Department of the Defense Ministry, disclosed that since 1996, theSURA, which operates on the Myanmar-Thai border, has launched "destructive acts" 25 times on civilian and government targets, killing 220 innocent people and injuring 140.

¡¡¡¡He said that the KNU has also carried out such acts 50 times since then, killing over 100 and injuring over 230.

¡¡¡¡Meanwhile, talks between the government and the KNU have been held for six times, bearing no fruits.

¡¡¡¡San Pwint accused Thailand of providing the two armed groups with various shelters and arms supply to prolong their existence in the country.

¡¡¡¡On May 21, the SURA, allegedly backed by Thai armed forces, overran four government outposts on the Myanmar side of the Myanmar-Thai border. All of the outposts were claimed to have beenrecaptured by the government forces on June 24. The border incident has brought about tense situation between Myanmar and Thailand. Enditem

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