 BANGKOK, Thailand - The Thai army on Wednesday identified seven Muslim men arrested early this week as top bomb-making specialists and key members of a militia group in Thailand's violence-wracked south, police said. Police and soldiers arrested the seven Sunday night when they raided the Islam Burapha school in Narathiwat province's Muang district, 800 kilometers (500 miles), south of Bangkok, army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said. The seven implicated five more suspected insurgents and police will seek warrants for their arrest, the government-run Thai News Agency reported.
| Announce that they've ratted out twenty more and track who starts running. |
Akara said some of the seven were top members of Runda Kumpulan Kecil, or RKK, a shadowy Islamicist organization believed by some terrorism experts to be an informal network of separatists who allegedly received training in Indonesia. But he could not confirm if any of them had been trained abroad.
| Basic info on the RKK here. |
Akara identified one of them as Manasae Ya, who is suspected of acquiring bomb-making material and explosive devices, as well as teaching new recruits how to assemble bombs.
Some of the suspects were students at a technical college nearby. Under emergency law, security forces can hold suspects without charge for up to 30 days.
Akara said the school is on the security watch list. "Since it's a school, it does not raise suspicion and makes it harder for us to crack down. It makes the authorities look bad if things go wrong. It's a perfect place for insurgents to hide," Akara said. Some teachers and the principal were taken in for questioning, police said. "In some cases schools give illicit approval for these operations to carry on under their roof," said Police Major General Yongyuth Jaroenwanij.
| Perhaps you'll be suspicious of the schools in the future? |
The seven men are suspected of involvement in some of the worst recent violence in the region, including a roadside bombing that killed 11 paramilitary troops on May 31, said Akara, adding that an "ustad," or teacher, who is a key member of the operation is still on the run.
The arrests were made after a bomb went off in a nearby rubber plantation where a suspected insurgent was wounded, Col. Athadej Mathanom said. Police and soldiers followed the blood trail into the school compound where they found bomb-making ingredients including gasoline and ammonium nitrate, and mobile phones commonly used to trigger bombs.
| Even Legume could figure this one out. |
The suspects were charged with illegal possession of explosive material and more charges, including terrorism-related ones, may follow after further investigation, Akara said. |