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| Southeast Asia |
| Three soldiers dead, three people injured in southern Thai attacks |
| 2009-03-14 |
| Suspected Muslim The 9-year-old Muslim boy was severely wounded by gunfire as he sat in a pickup truck waiting for his uncle who is a policeman in Yala, said police Col. Poompetch Pipatpetchpoom. "We believe they were targeting his uncle who works for the government but did not find him in the truck," Poompetch said. Assailants also burned down two public schools overnight in Pattani. Hundreds of schools — deemed by some Muslims as places where the government indoctrinates children with un-Islamic values — have been torched since 2004. The attacks came as authorities beefed up security for the anniversary of the founding of a separatist group called the Barisan Revolusi Nasional. Police had warned that insurgents might try to mark the Friday anniversary and following days with violence. On Friday, three soldiers were shot dead and one wounded while patrolling a road on motorcycles in Narathiwat province. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced Thursday that 4,000 more soldiers and other security personnel would be deployed to the region, supplementing more than 60,000 already there. |
| Posted by:ryuge |