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| Southeast Asia |
| Southern Thailand on Edge After Attacks |
| 2007-02-19 |
| By AMBIKA AHUJA Associated Press BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Dozens of bombings and shootings in southern Thailand left eight people dead, marking the first time Muslim insurgents had simultaneously struck the four provinces where they operate. The country's military-backed government responded Monday with plans to tighten security. The onslaught began Sunday night as thousands were celebrating Lunar New Year, and an army spokesman said the insurgents were trying to scare ethnic Chinese who celebrate the holiday into fleeing the predominantly Muslim region. "That's why they attacked on Sunday, the day that Chinese people celebrate after they pay homage to their ancestors. The insurgents do not want people of other religions to live with them," said the spokesman, Col. Akara Thiprote. Ethnic Chinese in southern Thailand are mostly Buddhists and Taoists. Twenty-nine bombings and 20 other attacks rocked the country's four southernmost provinces Sunday night. Most of the attacks took place in a span of 45 minutes, Akara said. The targets were karaoke lounges, hotels, schools, gasoline stations and power grids. All legitimate military targets. The violence continued Monday as bombs exploded at four locations in the south, killing an army major and wounding two soldiers, three policemen and 13 civilians, officials said. The attacks included a bomb at a karaoke parlor triggered by a mobile phone and an ambush on soldiers assigned to protect schoolteachers. The shootings brought the number of wounded to 69 over a 24-hour period. Sunday's attacks were the first time the insurgents had simultaneously struck all four southern provinces _ Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla _ where they operate, Akara said. More than 2,000 people have died in the four provinces since the insurgency erupted in 2004, fueled by accusations of decades of misrule by the central government. The insurgents have not announced their goals, but are believed to be fighting for a separate state imbued with radical Islamic ideology. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont met with top security officials on Monday and urged heightened security in the area ahead of upcoming public holidays including a Buddhist holiday in March and the Thai New Year known as Songkran, celebrated in mid-April. "There are loopholes in the cities that make it possible for the insurgents to attack and we must close these loopholes," said Montri Sangkasab, secretary-general of the Internal Security Operations Command counterinsurgency agency. Army commander Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin said more military reinforcements would be sent to the south, according to the state Thai News Agency. The attacks were the second wave of bombings Thailand has faced in recent months. Bangkok was struck by a series of eight explosions on Dec. 31, although authorities said southern insurgents were not responsible. Three people were killed and almost 40 wounded. Violence in the south has been escalating in recent months despite a major policy shift by the military-imposed government, which is trying to replace an earlier iron-fisted approach with a campaign to win over locals. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #1 How about forcing all the muslims to move to Malaysia, then building a border fence backed by a minefield and machine gun emplacements? That would cut down on the problems tremendously. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-02-19 13:25 |