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| Southeast Asia | |
| Thai PM tours violence-hit south | |
| 2005-10-07 | |
| At least one person has been killed in violence in southern Thailand, during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's tour of the troubled region. Mr Thaksin spent Thursday night in the area, after saying he wanted to show he did not fear insurgents there. He stayed near the army checkpoint where five Thai policemen were killed by suspected insurgents on Wednesday. The unrest in the Muslim-majority south has led to the deaths of about 950 people since the beginning of 2004. In the latest killing in the region, a policeman was shot dead by two suspected militants in a drive-by shooting in Yala province. Sergeant Charin Parnnark, the driver of the provincial police chief, was shot early on Friday, police said. In another incident, a bomb went off in the town of Sungai Kolok on Thursday evening, close to where Mr Thaksin was staying. The blast seriously injured at least one person. Mr Thaksin travelled through the region with a 1,000-strong security force, which reportedly sealed off villages before his arrival.
Later on Friday he inspected the distribution of new microchip "smart ID cards", which are due to replace national identification cards in the southern provinces. The authorities hope the new fingerprint-embedded cards will help them hunt down suspected insurgents, and those with dual Thai-Malay nationality. The government believes that some insurgents with dual nationality flee across the border after committing attacks. | |
| Posted by:Steve |