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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand to boost troops in restive south |
| 2004-09-19 |
| Thailand will send more troops to the country's largely Muslim south in an effort to quell months of violence in the restive region, an army officer said on Sunday. More than 320 people have been killed in the area since January, when gunmen raided an army camp and seized hundreds of weapons. A low-key Muslim separatist insurgency was fought in the south in the 1970s and 1980s. "Another six battalions are to be deployed to three southern provinces -- Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat," a senior army officer said. "This is to reinforce the military presence in the south because the situation there has yet to be stabilised," said the officer, who declined to be identified. The six battalions, about 4,200 troops in all, will be deployed in early October, joining about 6,300 soldiers already on patrol in the far south bordering Muslim-majority Malaysia. Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula declined to comment on whether more troops were needed. Despite the heavy military presence in the south, attacks on symbols of the largely Buddhist central government, such as state buildings, and ambushes of security officers happen almost daily. A judge was killed by gunmen in the town of Pattani on Friday. Police say a Muslim student has confessed to involvement in the attack and they are hunting for two other suspects. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has blamed the violence on radical Muslim teachers who he said preach a separatist ideology and urge their students to attack government officials. |
| Posted by:Fred |