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| Southeast Asia |
| 160 detained by army in southern Thailand |
| 2007-06-25 |
| The Thai army has detained 160 Muslims, including six women, without charge in a series of raids in the rebellious far south, a spokesman said on Monday. The detainees were taken for questioning to an army camp in Pattani, one of three provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a three-year separatist insurgency in the Malay-speaking region. Colonel Acra Tiproch said the detainees, who can be kept without charge for 28 days under an emergency law, would be freed if found not to have been involved in the violence but DNA samples would be kept on record. Acra said he believed about a quarter of the detainees were subject to arrest warrants and would be charged and those found to support or sympathise with the insurgency would go through a re-education camp. Plus: The latest arson attack occurred at Bantaladlammai school in the provincial seat of Yala early Monday, destroying two classrooms. The police believe that the arson was the work of presumed insurgents who broke into the school as security personnel were changing shifts during the night. The school has 80 students and eight teachers. Combined police and military security for teachers in the increasingly targeted education sector of the three southern provinces on Monday was stepped up, with reinforcements being deployed to areas with higher incidences of violence. Two schools in Narathiat's Rueso district remained closed Monday after the schools were torched on Saturday night. It is expected that the schools will reopen Wednesday. Basic Education Commission secretary-general Khunying Kasama Varavarn na Ayudhaya on Monday convened a meeting of school administrators in Songkhla after six schools were burned by arson last week in the province's Saba Yoi district. The meeting discussed security measures for teachers and schools as the increasingly frequent attacks are having a serious affect on teachers' morale. The six schools remain open but the number of students going to classes has dropped because parents fear for the safety of their children. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 160 There, fixed that. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-25 11:47 |