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Militants Not Ruling Out Attacks In Bangkok And Phuket
Militant groups fighting for independence for the Muslim-majority southern provinces have not ruled out the possibility of spreading insurgency to capital Bangkok and tourist heaven Phuket. The Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) told the Nation daily that such a move would be possible if the government continued with their oppressive tactics against the local community who were mostly Malay-speaking.Pulo's foreign affairs chief Kasturi Mahkuta told the paper from an undisclosed location in Sweden that it was not entirely out of the question that any of the "Malay liberation groups" could be thinking about hitting targets outside the region. Kasturi said Pulo had a significant number of officials and armed troops in southern Thailand but declined to go into detail or take credit for any of the attacks in the region. "This is something we won't confirm or deny. I can't go into specifics," said Kasturi when asked which major attacks or incidents Pulo was involved. Pulo emerged in the 1970s during the armed struggle by ethnic Malays in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat seeking independence from Thailand. Peace was restored in the last decade but more than 1,300 people had died since separatists launched a campaign of bombings and shootings in January, 2004. But despite that, Kasturi told the paper that Pulo was willing to enter into talks with the government to discuss "solutions other than a total breakaway". He said Pulo leadership was concerned with the violence in the region and the high number of casualties, adding that there was tendency to blame all the attacks on Malay liberation groups. Security agencies have said that several new anti-Bangkok groups have emerged in the south and largely to be blamed for the violence. Posted by: ryuge 2006-08-10 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=162526 |