The child-soldier twins accused of masterminding the siege of a Thai hospital in January have denied that they ordered the attack.
Interviewed at their jungle hideout in a remote mountainous area close to the Thai-Burmese border, Johnny and Luther Htoo (12) said their enemy was the military government in Yangon and its soldiers who had killed and raped their people.
"We didn't give the order to attack [the hospital]," Luther Htoo said. "We were attacked by the Burmese [troops] who came from behind and the Thai army who came from the front. We had to run deeper into jungle."
Remnants of the twins' group, dubbed God's Army, have been on the run since January when 10 heavily armed guerrillas burst into a hospital in Ratchaburi, 100 km west of Bangkok, and took 700 staff and patients hostage. The 24-hour siege ended in the deaths of all 10 hostage-takers and condemnation of the Htoo twins.
Since then, the twins and their followers have been chased by both Thai troops and Burmese government forces and are now in hiding in the jungle area that runs between the two countries.
In the filmed interview, Luther, who has had his hair cut short, was dressed in army fatigues and had a small scar under his left eye, referred mysteriously to another group who he implied may have been responsible for the hospital attack: "I knew that they may do something to stop fighting but I didn't know what. It was already done . . . we couldn't do anything," he said.
As Luther spoke, his followers, a small collection of men and boys, sat around holding their rifles and smoking.
Luther's brother Johnny, dressed all in black with his trademark long hair hidden under a blank bandanna, said little, but like other members of the group he seemed happy to pose for the camera. The sons of a farmer, Luther and Johnny have had no formal education. They claim to be in charge of 400,000 invisible soldiers and to have the ability to predict the future and change the shape of the things around them. They spend much of their time smoking and being carried around by devoted followers, who are usually much older.
Many villagers in the border area believe the twins have possessed supernatural wisdom since childhood and that they are reincarnations of ancient heroes of their ethnic Karen community, which has been at war with the Burmese for centuries.
The Karen community has found inspiration in stories of the twin boys, who they see as battling their ancient enemy.
"I carry a gun to shoot Burmese [government troops] because they are bad to Karen people. They beat our people, rape our women, kill them and destroy villages.
"They take children from parents and make them into porters," said Luther.
Political analysts say God's Army lost some support after the hospital attack and probably has no more than 200 devoted fighters left.