World IN BRIEF : MYANMAR : Army Said to Make Inmates Clear Mines

Thousands of criminals are being used by the Myanmar army to clear land mines ahead of advancing infantrymen on the battlefields of eastern Myanmar, escaped prisoners say. “We call it the Trek of Death,” Maung Mhi Aung, 34, said after arriving at Phobahta, a base camp of autonomy-seeking Christian Karen rebels fighting the army near the border with Thailand. Maung said that more than 300 criminals taken from prisons to act as army porters and minesweepers were killed by land mines during the battle for strategic Sleeping Dog Hill. “The whole jungle is stinking with blood and dead bodies,” he said.