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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai Villagers to Receive Weapons & Training |
| 2005-11-15 |
| SOUTHERN UNREST: Villagers to get weapons training Supreme Command plans to recruit 20,000 volunteers for new scheme. About 20,000 residents will be trained and armed in the three southernmost provinces enabling them to defend their villages and spy on the movements of insurgents in the restive region, commander General Ruangroj Mahasaranond said yesterday. The project, under the supervision of the Supreme Command, will begin in December and is a combination of security training and job creation for residents who will be trained to develop weapons and spying skills, the commander said. The Southern Border Provinces Peace Building Command will recruit qualified males and females for the project and put them on the government's payroll, he said. Thousands of residents in the deep South have been trained and armed as defence volunteers to protect their property. The government has issued weapons to them but many are not strong enough to provide sufficient security to their communities. Militants have stolen hundreds of these weapons in several attacks in recent months. Ruangroj said general defence volunteers had received inadequate training but the new project would offer better instruction and would include ongoing training after the course. The project is one of the government's efforts to contain violence, which erupted in the South and has killed more than 1,000 people since the beginning of last year. Fresh violence broke out yesterday in Pattani where two people died and two were injured in separate shooting incidents, police said. Chom Phongsri, 40, and his wife Nilrat Phongsri, 35, were killed in their shop in Pattani's Yarang district at about 7am yesterday. A witness said three gunmen on a motorbike shot the husband then the wife when she went outside the couple's shop to find her husband. Another incident in the same district took place some 30 minutes later as Daeng Jitkasem, 50, and Win Phetcharat, 48, were injured in a gun attack while riding a motorbike to work. In neighbouring Narathiwat province, a Tambon Administration Organisation building in Rusoh district was set on fire on Sunday night. Two security guards at the building said about four arsonists stormed into the building and tied them up before torching documents and the building. The building received minor damage as nearby residents helped extinguish the fire shortly after the arsonists fled. This is one way to take on the problem... I hope it's not all that Thaksin has in mind, however. These people deserve far more than his pitiful response, thus far. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #1 Sigh. Mods, I plamed the title, plz remove "Weapons" or "Arms". |
| Posted by: .com 2005-11-15 07:11 |