On January 24, 2000, a renegade ethnic group from Myanmar, known as ‘God’s Army’, led by two 12-year old twins said to possess ‘mystical powers’, Luther and Johnny Htoo, took 700 people hostage for 24-hours at a hospital in Ratchaburi, Thailand. The hostage-takers demanded doctors treat wounded colleagues at their mountain base.

All hostages were later freed during a military operation carried out by Thai commandos on the morning of January 25, 2000. It later transpired that three of 10 guerrillas killed in the rescue took part in the takeover of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok in October 1999, the Thai military claimed. ‘God’s Army’ was formed when a splinter group left the Karen National Union in 1997.