70 Said Killed in Thailand Gunbattles

[seruriermarshal]

70 Said Killed in Thailand Gunbattles

14 minutes ago


BANGKOK, Thailand - Suspected Islamic militants clashed with police in Thailand Wednesday, leaving at least 70 people dead in the heaviest fighting yet in the troubled Muslim-dominated south, officials said.



The clashes erupted after militants launched simultaneous attacks on police bases and checkpoints in several districts of Yala and Pattani provinces, said Yala Gov. Boonyasit Suwanarat.


He told reporters that most of the dead were young men attempting to rob weapons from police and army bases. At least three policemen and one soldier were also killed.


It was the worst fighting so far in the south where almost daily attacks by gunmen have left nearly 150 people dead this year.


Most of the casualties appear to have happened in Yala province.


Pattani police chief Maj. Gen. Paitoon Pattanasophon told The Associated Press by telephone that clashes took place in at least five places in Pattani province. The fighting raged for more than three hours after the first shooting began at 5 a.m.


One gunbattle was fought around a mosque in Kruesei district of Pattani where the militants were holed up, he said.


Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only Muslim majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. Muslims there have long complained of discrimination in jobs and education.


They also say their culture and language are being subjugated by the Buddhist Thais, and cite as an example the state schools, which teach in Thai language. Muslims in the south speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay, spoken in the neighboring Malaysia.


The central government policies have been the source of a decades old separatist struggle, which subsided after an amnesty in the late 1980s, but exploded again this year with the Jan. 4 raid on an army arsenal and the torching of 21 schools. Four soldiers were killed in the arsenal attack.

[duck]

Good work by Thai LEOs and Army. We don't need another instability factor right now. Malaysia exporting fundamentalism to Thailand? Better clean up their own human-rights record and stop discriminating against minorities.

[Mark Sman]

Any prolonged bandit action in Thailand would seriously impact tourism there as well.

[Truthsayer]

Thai authoritys are blaiming local (gangsters) criminals and drug-dealers, to use the poor malaj-speeking youth in the three provinces to instigate this uproar. They will use the uproar to divert attension/manpower away from their deeds.

The background is that the Thai-goverment launched a large 'counter' against drug-dealers and drug-smugglers (that use the country as a stepping-path to send drugs from other countries in the region to the west) that left some 2000 drugdealers/'drug-soldiers' dead in a short period of time.

(Thailand got a lot of critisism for this since some fealt they attacked with guns blasing instead of trying to arrest as many as possible, while the Thai authority said most deaths was drugsmugglers shot due to them firing upon the police, and others killed by other dryg-gangs as the war between the gangs have hardened.)

Once again, it's not the religion per say that is evil - it's the people using the poor that is. As always.

[Uncle Sam]

Here's more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48573-2004Apr28.html


Police gunned down machete-wielding militants who stormed security outposts in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south Wednesday, killing at least 112 people in one of the bloodiest days in the Southeast Asian kingdom.

The attackers were mostly teenagers -- some wearing red head bands -- and were intent on stealing weapons. They were poorly armed and apparently unaware that police had been tipped off in advance and were lying in wait for them.

The eight hours of mayhem ended when police fired tear gas and rocket-propelled grenades into a mosque, killing 32 militants who, witnesses said, were sheltering inside after running away from an earlier battle.

"Maybe the insurgents underestimated the preparedness of security forces. They used machetes to steal guns and when we fought back they suffered big losses," Yala Gov. Boonyasit Suwanarat said.

It was the worst violence in a region that has seen dozens of people killed in near-daily attacks this year. The government has blamed Islamic separatists seeking for decades to carve out a homeland in the Muslim-majority south of this predominantly Buddhist country.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the killings would halt the simmering separatist struggle in the Muslim-dominated south.

"After this, it will be hard for them to do these kind of bad things again," Thaksin said.

The raids were linked to a Jan. 4 attack on a military camp in the nearby province of Narathiwat, which triggered an upsurge of violence in the area this year, Thaksin said. Four soldiers were killed and hundreds of guns stolen in that raid.

"The masterminds of this movement were in such high spirits after they raided the army camp, and they believed that they could do it again. But they were wrong," Thaksin said.

He denied the attackers had connections to international terrorists, saying "most of the insurgents are youths from the southern provinces."

The attacks began before dawn, when insurgents stormed more than 15 police bases, village defense posts and district offices in a bid to steal weapons, said Lt. Gen. Proong Bunphandung, the chief of police for the south.

However, security forces had been tipped off and were waiting for the assailants, most of whom carried only machetes, Proong said.

Television news reports showed the bodies of insurgents lying in pools of blood, some of them in front of police stations clasping machetes and wearing camouflage.

Gunfire could be heard in the background as armored personnel carriers drove down deserted village streets and commandos ran through the forest. Policemen and soldiers, carrying automatic rifles, ran across streets and ditches

Army chief Gen. Chaiyasith Shinawatra said 107 insurgents were killed and 17 were arrested. He said three policemen and two soldiers also were killed.



No group claimed responsibility for the highly coordinated assault.

Nimu Magajae, deputy chairman of Yala Islamic Council, said he was told the attackers were drug addicts.

"This is the first time in my life that I have seen so many Muslim youths killed in one day. But if they were drug addicts we do not regard them as religious followers," he told The Associated Press.

Nimu demanded that authorities hand over the dead so they could be buried within 24 hours, in line with Islamic custom.

Many parts of the region have been under martial law for months. Security was tightened Wednesday along the border with neighboring Malaysia, which in the past has denied allegations of harboring militants.

Thaksin said the attackers arrived at the target point with brand new motorcycles, which he said proved they were funded by "influential figures, including politicians and drug gangsters."

Muslims have long complained of discrimination in jobs and education in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat -- Thailand's only Muslim majority provinces.

They also say their culture and language are being subjugated by the Buddhist Thais, and cite as an example the state schools, which teach in Thai language. Muslims in the south speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay, spoken in neighboring Malaysia.

The alienation caused by the central government's policies has been the source of a decades-old separatist struggle, which subsided after an amnesty in the late 1980s before exploding with the army arsenal raid in January.

The military also crushed pro-democracy uprisings in 1973, 1976 and 1991, killing dozens.

[garoco]

When I was in Southern Thailand (near Hatyai) on leave last year with the Aussie Army (whilst based at Butterworth Air Force Base) I snapped this picture in traffic:

http://anzac.mdsnews.com/attachments/kkoori/FRIENDLY%20PEACEFUL%20PEOPLE.JPG

Other things we saw included several "9/11", Bin Laden and Anti-US/Western t-shirts for sale in hawker stores.