SUSPECTED Islamic militants killed by security forces at a south Thailand mosque may have been trained abroad by the al-Qaeda linked South-east Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a news report said today. Military intelligence confirmed that the leaders of 32 attackers gunned down on Wednesday at the Krue-sae mosque in southern Pattani province were affiliated with Jemaah Islamiah and likely received weapons and terrorist training abroad, The Bangkok Post newspaper reported. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied that recent violence in Thailand's Muslim south is linked to international terrorists.
| But that counts for nothing, since he's coming to resemble an ostrich... |
The dead included 32 alleged militants killed at the Krue-sae Mosque, where they'd been holed up in a protracted siege during which soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades and tear gas into the structure, considered one of the region's holiest Muslim sites. |