WASHINGTON, June 19 Kyodo U Secre...

WASHINGTON, June 19 Kyodo

U Secretary of State Colin Powell marked Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday forward Thursday with a call onward the Myanmar military guidance to immediately release her from jail.

State Department representative spokesman Philip Reeker said Powell has sent his personal greetings to Suu Kyi further the U.S. Embassy could not deliver the message to her.

''Sadly, this is the seventh birthday since 1989 that she wearied under detention by her country's military rulers'' Reeker said in a statement.

''We salute Aung San Suu Kyi and chance of a favorable result that future birthdays find her living clear in a free Burma,'' the statement said, referring to Myanmar on its old name.

The Myanmar junta placed Suu Kyi and a certain members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) in what it calls ''protective custody'' after a clash between a pro-junta cluster and her motorcade in northern Myanmar in succession May 30. Dozens of family were killed or injured in that incident.

Reeker said the continued detention of Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders is ''without cause and unacceptable'' and called forward the Myanmar junta to account for the commonalty who have died or were anguished in the clash and those who have been missing.

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