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| Southeast Asia |
| Gunmen attack two mosques in Thailand |
| 2007-04-29 |
| Gunmen in southern Thailand attacked two mosques on Saturday, including one where security forces killed dozens of Muslims three years ago in an event that fueled an Islamic insurgency that is still gripping the area. One person was killed and three injured in the attacks at the Krue Se mosque and Hutae Bo-ngo mosque in the Pattani province. Authorities blamed Islamic insurgents bent on stirring up communal tension between Buddhists and Muslims. Army spokesman Col Akara Thiprote said gunmen opened fire on the Krue Se mosque, as two-dozen men prayed, but no one was injured. “Opening fire on the holy mosque is a desperate act of insurgents which is meant to arouse anger among the Muslims,” Akara said. Police Col Thawan Nakarawong said attackers threw a grenade into the Hutae Bo-ngo mosque as villagers were finishing evening prayers, killing a 68-year-old Muslim leader and injuring three people. In other violence, gunmen on motorcycles killed two Muslim members of village administration councils in Narathiwat province, police said. Other clashes on the same day between Muslims and government forces resulted in the deaths of a total of 107 people at the hands of security forces, turning the mosque attack into a symbol of the heavy-handed tactics of Thai authorities. The killings fueled a nascent insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives till now. The insurgency flared in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani in January 2004. Southern Muslims have long complained of discrimination, especially in educational and job opportunities, in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Somebody gets it! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-04-29 09:12 |
| #1 Must have been maddog Muslims on the rampage and just forgot who they were shooting at. "It sure as hell wasn't us peaceful Buddhists." |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-04-29 00:50 |