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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand mosque bomb wounds 11 Muslims |
| 2007-03-15 |
| A bomb wounded 11 Muslims outside a mosque in southern Thailand, in possible retaliation for the execution-style killings of eight Buddhist commuters in the same area earlier in the day. Col. Apirat Sangkhao, the police chief in Yala province's Yaha district -- where both attacks took place on Wednesday -- described the bombing as "an attempt to pit Muslims against Buddhists." No one has taken responsibility for either attack. The bombing raised the specter of a spiral of revenge attacks in Thailand's far south, where a Muslim insurgency has led to more than 2,000 deaths in the past three years. Relations between the Muslim and Buddhist communities in the region are tense, but up to now there has been little sign that Buddhist villagers were seeking to retaliate for the violence that has claimed mostly civilian lives. Thai army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprot blamed insurgents for the mosque bombing. "They want to trick people into believing that this is retaliation," for the earlier killings of Buddhists, he said. "They want to cause divisiveness between people of different religions," he said. Akara said the village where the bombing took place was one of the few in the area that did not cooperate with the insurgents, who otherwise have a strong influence there. Earlier Wednesday, eight Buddhist commuters were slain when their van was forced to stop due to a tree in the road and gunmen threw open the vehicle door and opened fired on the passengers, police Lt. Kitti Mankhong, a duty officer in Yaha district, said. The Muslim driver, who was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the face, survived the attack, as did one passenger. "Everyone was shot in the head at close range, execution style," Kitti said. Two of the dead were 16-year-old schoolgirls, he said. The driver recounted that he heard the insurgents say "kill them all" in the local dialect of the Malay language that is widely spoken among Muslims in the south instead of Thai, according to Yaha district chief Suppanat Sirunthawinet. "Thais have never seen such a cruel incident. A mother was hugging her daughter as they died," Suppanat said. He quoted the driver saying that the gunmen did not execute him after they heard him praying for his life in the Malay dialect, which indicated he was likely to be Muslim. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 One can only hope that Thailand's Buddhists have finally decided to get a bit frisky. For every innocent Buddhist killed by the Muslims, a visit like that mentioned in the article should be paid to the nearest mosque. Should such an incident happen at the precise midpoint between two mosques, both should receive such attention just to avoid any error. Change will occur only when Thailand's Muslims are made to feel equal or greater amounts of pain than the Buddhists. Discomfort is the only successful motivator for those who refuse to stand up against brutality. As SPoD so astutely observes, "building a wall between this century and the 7th", simply is not an option. No progres will be made in fighting terrorism until Infidels learn how to consistently apply the "equal or greater" principal on a truly vast scale. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-15 16:22 |
| #3 "Execute" being the operative word. I hope it doesn't harm our souls. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-03-15 08:23 |
| #2 "Malay dialect" There is the source of infection, the Islam of the Koran via Malayasia and supported from Malayasia. I am past the point of thinking we can get along, or that building a wall between this century and the 7th will work. That most regretably only leaves one viable solution. It's a solution the muslims have already planned and started to execute for and on us non-muslims. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2007-03-15 06:31 |
| #1 The Muslims in Bosnia were killing their own people at one point to gain sympathy. Same thing here? |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-03-15 06:30 |