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Thaksin sez car boom planned by kin of separatist leaders
Yet another family affair ...The first car bomb to explode in a year-long separatist uprising in Thailand's Muslim south was planted by relatives of hunted militant leaders, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Friday. ``We know it was done by children of people subject to our arrest warrants who are pressing the government to stop hunting them, not foreigners or any people linked to foreign groups,'' Thaksin said in Bangkok. The Thursday night blast killed six people and wounded 14 in Sungai Kolok near the Malaysian border. General Sonthi Boonyakarin, a top army commander in the region, said the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolution Front, a group fighting the government, was responsible. But the governor of Narathiwat province, scene of one of the deadliest attacks since the uprising began in January 2004, said he was not so sure there was no foreign involvement. The attack on Sungai Kolok, a border town that draws tourists with its bars and brothels, was too wicked for Thais to have carried out, Governor Pracha Taerat said. ``If they were Thai, they would not have planted such a powerful bomb as this, which is similar to those in Iraq,'' he said. A noodle shop bore the brunt of the blast, with four diners killed instantly and two dying later in hospital. There has been considerable speculation that Jemaah Islamiah, the Southeast Asian branch of al-Qaeda, may be involved in the violence. Militants have set off several motorcycle bombs by mobile telephone, but security officials said a car bomb was a step up in sophistication. The car, stolen from an army camp two years ago, was parked near a busy hotel hosting a wedding party. The bomb, which was made of fertilizer, weighed at least 50 kilograms. ``They aimed for a wider scale of victims,'' Pracha said. ``It is an act of terrorism.'' Thaksin, who spent two days in the region this week proclaiming his determination to end the insurgency with harsh measures and ordering security forces to be more proactive, said he expected more bombs. ``Our intelligence reports suggest that there will be more explosions, but they won't be as powerful as this,'' he said. ``So we have to pay closer attention in municipal areas. It will take a month before our proactive approach will take effect''. The impact on Thailand's image as a safe destination for tourists and investors will depend on whether the violence spreads outside the region, analysts say. ``It still looks like local unrest,'' said Bob Broadfoot, managing director of Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Hong. ``What we are afraid of is the violence might move to Bangkok. That's what they did in Indonesia and the Philippines.'' Sungai Kolok was hit by four bombs last year after the separatist violence erupted with a raid on an army camp in the south, from where 400 assault rifles were stolen. Pracha said military intelligence reports suggested last week that Sungai Kolok was one of three towns targeted for bombs, but security had concentrated on motorcycles. Thaksin has sent thousands of soldiers to deal with a revival of the unrest he blames on radical Islamist teachers, but there have been few signs that he is succeeding. His latest ideas, announced during his visit to the region Wednesday and Thursday, include denying entire Muslim villages development aid if they are adjudged to have helped separatists. And if that fails,, he said, troops will ``lay siege'' to villages. His scheme has drawn fierce criticism. Muslim leaders, academics and politicians said it will only encourage support for the insurgency, but Thaksin is unmoved. ``I won't listen because I have a thorough understanding of what the problem is,'' he said. ``Those who want everything to stop, come and help us. Don't just sit idly by and criticizing.'' Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-02-18 |
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