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| Southeast Asia |
| Bangkok bombings the work of JI |
| 2007-01-19 |
| THAI intelligence agencies say operatives of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah were directly involved in the New Year's Eve bombings in the Thai capital that left three dead and 40 wounded. In reports seen by The Weekend Australian, the agencies say a key JI leader in Thailand's southern Narathiwat province was directly involved in the planning of the operation. The link contradicts earlier comments by military-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont who said the bombings appeared to be unrelated to the violence in the south, which has claimed more than 1800 lives since early 2004. "From the evidence we have gathered, there is a slim chance that it is related to the southern insurgency," Mr Surayud said in the early hours of New Year's Day soon after the bloodshed. "It is likely related to people who lost political benefits," he said, referring to the former Thaksin Shinawatra administration that was ousted in a coup in September amid allegations of corruption and abuse of power and fears of street clashes. In an interview with CNN this week, Mr Thaksin, who is now living in exile, denied any involvement with the attacks. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings. The eight bombs, set in crowded tourist areas that left at least seven foreigners among the wounded, cast a pall over the city that had largely escaped violence in a year of political turmoil. However, Thai intelligence reports draw a direct link with the southern insurgency, including JI. The reports say a meeting in December between the head of JI in Narathiwat province and a representative from the Patani United Liberation Organisation made the final preparations. Bomb materials were to be supplied from Cambodia. "Masae Useng, the head of the Jemaah Islamiah in Narathiwat province and Ruslan Yumuraenae, the commander of the PULO Sabotage Unit had met in the (informant's) home in Kuala Lumpur towards the end of December 2006," the report says. The meeting's purpose was to select personnel for deployment to Bangkok "where they would commit acts of sabotage aimed at intensifying the dispute between the Government and the former regime", it said. "Such attacks would provide a significant boost to Separatist Front morale and would put the Siamese infidels off balance." The commander of the sabotage unit was Lohmueli Yusoh, alias Rusdi Pohseng, a 38-year-old former Communist Party guerilla who had received military and sabotage training in Libya in 1983. There is now a one million baht ($35,700) bounty for Rusdi's arrest. Ten "foot soldiers" - young insurgents - working in Thai restaurants in northern Malaysia were selected to plant the bombs. Intelligence sources said the bombings were instigated by supporters of the former Thaksin administration during a meeting in late November on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi. But leading Thai forensic scientist Porntip Rojanasunan placed doubts on whether separatists were seeking to target sites outside the southern border area. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 I posted an article here at least two years ago with Toxin groveling and promising a large increase in funding / permits/ access to Thai officials for madrassah building and outreach. Pfeh. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-01-19 14:14 |
| #1 Having lived in Bangkok for the past seven years, I say this report is drivel. PULO has never shown much interest in supporting any wider causes of the global jihadi movement. All they want is to drive the Buddhists out of the three southernmost provinces, and then achieve autonomy. And - they have adopted a very effective plan for achieving this "ethnic cleansing" - that being to go after the Buddhist public schools. Their strategy is to achieve ethnic cleansing over the next couple of generations. They basically ignore and Buddhists without children - as this element of the Buddhist population will simply die out. That leaves families. The separatists correctly feel that Buddhist parents will never allow their children to grow up without education. So - the muslin insurgents have systematically attacked all aspects of the public school system - killing teachers, principals, administrators, and schoolchildren. The public school system is beginning to fall apart - no one wants to teach in those provinces. By all appearances, PULO will be successful in driving out all Buddhist families. Thus - setting off a handful of small bombs in Bangkok is not something that plays into their strategy. They don't care about Bangkok - and they have no strtegy to cause the Thai government to withdraw from the provinces. Their strategy is to work DIRECTLY against the Buddhist population in the three provinces. The Thai government has been absolutely pathetic in protecting the Buddhist population of Pattani, Yala and Narithiwat provinces. What they should consider is requiring all madrasses in the South to close - forcing the Muslim children to go to the sames schools as the Buddhists. At any rate, the New Years Eve bombings here were not directed against any discernable target set - what they brought to my mind was what happened here several years back, when a major Thai department store chain failed to renew a contract with a security guard service - and awarded the contract to a competitor. Withn in a week or two, operatives of the displaced security force company started planting small bombs (hand grenades) in the stores - I remember a couple of shoppers being killed in a carpet deparment, when they unrolled a carpet and a grenade rolled out without its pin. The insurgents have no particular interest in discrediting the interim coup government - which has been much more conciliatory toward the Muslim south than was the Taksin regime. About the only folks with an interest in discrediting the new government is the old government. But - I do not tend to think that Taksin himself was involved - more likely, it was elements of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party. Or - one other interesting hypothesis that I have heard is that there was another coup being organized back in September, by a rival power block - but their thunder got stolen when the Sondhi-led military forces executed their coup. The rumors are that this other coup faction may still be seeking an opportunity to take their crack at running the country. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2007-01-19 12:06 |