Bangkok: Myanmar's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt - among the most reformist of the military regime's leaders has been sacked and placed under house arrest for alleged corruption, a Thai Government spokesman said today (Oct 19, 2004).

"The Thai Government has learned through diplomatic channels from the Thai ambassador in Yangon that the Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was dismissed and detained under house arrest on corruption allegations," said Thai Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair.

The move took place last night (Oct 18, 2004) after the premier returned to the capital Yangon from a visit to the central town of Mandalay and the isolated junta closed its border checkpoints.

Khin Nyunt, 65, was the face of the regime overseas and backed dialogue with the detained Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but appeared increasingly marginalised with the rise of hardliners within the leadership.

Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and head of the junta, is strongly against allowing Aung San Suu Kyi any role in Myanmar's political process, according to analysts.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for the past 16 months and is currently under her third period of house arrest.

The sacking was the culmination of growing tensions between rival factions within the junta over corruption, according to sources in Myanmar.

Khin Nyunt was appointed soon after Myanmar was condemned internationally for the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi following a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob in 2003.