Several Bombs Rocks Southern Thailand

[george]

Power cuts, bombings rock areas of insurgency-plagued southern Thailand

BANGKOK: -- Power blackouts and a series of bomb explosions Sunday night rocked areas of southern Thailand where a Muslim insurgency has killed more than 2,000 people, officials said.

Police Maj. Gen. Kokiat Wongworachart said areas of Pattani province, including its capital, suffered electricity blackouts, while in neighboring Yala police said at least five bombs exploded in the province's main city.

Television reports said bombs also went off in Narathiwat province.

There were no reports of deaths in the attacks, but a number of persons were wounded, according to police and news reports.

The three provinces are at the heart of a separatist insurgency that erupted in early 2004.

--IHT 2007-02-18

[MiG16]

this is getting worse everyday

half of Pattani town was blacked out this evening. lots of panic. in Yala itself there were 11 bombs.

[george]

Insurgent attacks in South left one dead, a dozen injured

At least one was killed and over twenty were injured after a series of insurgent attacks in southern provinces.

Bombs blasted at over ten places in Yala's night entertainment venues as well as an electricity-generating plant in Pattani. Electricity has been out for over an hour.

Insurgents also shot police and military officials and blocked routes in the province.

Many important places in Songkhla were also burnt while schools and mosques in Narathiwat were burnt.

--The Nation 2007-02-18

[george]

One killed, many wounded in attacks in Thai south

BANGKOK: -- A series of bomb and arson attacks killed one person and wounded at least 33 in Thailand's Muslim south on Sunday, damaging karaoke bars, schools and petrol and power stations, police and witnesses said.

The coordinated attacks were spread across Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani bordering Malaysia, where more than 2,000 people have been killed in a three-year-old separatist insurgency.

In Narathiwat, one person was killed and 10 were wounded in blasts at five karaoke bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok, police radio said.

Twenty-three people were wounded in and around Yala's provincial capital, a Reuters witness at the main hospital said.

Police radio reported arson attacks on three schools in Narathiwat and Pattani's provincial capital fell dark after a bomb knocked out a power station.

--Reuters 2007-02-18

[richard10365]

I think they need to draw a line somewhere. Anyone who wants the insurgency for a government stand on southern side. The rest, stand on the northern side of the line. Then cut off the southern half from all aid with Thailand. Take their ID cards and passports.

I bet they would start dropping dimes then about who is causing all the problems.

[thedude]

surely this can't be the work of the southern insurgents since all those bombs only killed what, 1 person? strangely similar to the bangkok bombings. i think it may be the work of 'people who lost power' na krap.

Edited February 18, 2007 by thedude

[seagull]

One killed, many wounded in attacks in Thai south

BANGKOK: -- A series of bomb and arson attacks killed one person and wounded at least 33 in Thailand's Muslim south on Sunday, damaging karaoke bars, schools and petrol and power stations, police and witnesses said.

The coordinated attacks were spread across Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani bordering Malaysia, where more than 2,000 people have been killed in a three-year-old separatist insurgency.

In Narathiwat, one person was killed and 10 were wounded in blasts at five karaoke bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok, police radio said.

Twenty-three people were wounded in and around Yala's provincial capital, a Reuters witness at the main hospital said.

Police radio reported arson attacks on three schools in Narathiwat and Pattani's provincial capital fell dark after a bomb knocked out a power station.

--Reuters 2007-02-18

I am not pro-thaksin nor anyone else. But if I recalled correctly, thaksin once said that the south must be ruled with an "iron fist". He is right. The current government prefers a "soft approach" to the problems in the south. (maybe because the junta chief is a muslim?) I must now that I agree with thaksin's suggested ways. Seek and destroy the militants, but same time provide economic assistance to the muslim south, the law and abiding ones that is.

Not only muslims extremist in the south of thailand are creating all this mess, but also around the world, in particular, the middle east. Muslims, by nature, are law abiding and good to have as a neighbour. But it is the extremists, the militants that ought to be sought out and apprehended or killed in action. They do not have the least sympathy for all the innocent lives that they took at the push of the button on their mobile. So why would we, the civilised world (at lease I think we are) take the extemist nonsense.

It truly amazes me how the military intelligence would missed out this one! 11 bomb blast going off simultaneously in three different provinces, and they missed the great BANG? It's unbelievable.

[Tony Clifton]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Edited February 18, 2007 by Tony Clifton

[Robski]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

UH!?

Bombs blasted at over ten places in Yala's night entertainment venues as well as an electricity-generating plant in Pattani. Electricity has been out for over an hour.

Muslims! Not exactly winning any friends are they?

[bingobongo]

sadly it will only be a matter of time before these start to occur again in bangkok

[HenryB]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Do you think it could be that Israel is behind this as they would like to take over Southern Thailand? This way Israel will get a cheap source of Rain water for the desert.

[seagull]

surely this can't be the work of the southern insurgents since all those bombs only killed what, 1 person? strangely similar to the bangkok bombings. i think it may be the work of 'people who lost power' na krap.

When I come across an absurd posting, I can normally ignore it. But when I come across one that is TOTALLY absurd, I must reply.

So Mr. Dude, or Khun Dude, if there are more than one killed, then it may not be the work of "people who lost power". Since there is only one killed, so it is linked to the Bangkok bombing? Oh dear. What myopic thinking.

Have you not consider that the bombs were meant to have maximum casualty effect?" But fortunately it did not?

[asd]

There has been a separatist movement in Pattani since at least the 1930s, but under successive Thai military regimes it was firmly suppressed. During World War II, when Thailand under the nationalist regime of Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram was an ally of Japan, Tengku Mahmud Mahyuddin, a prominent Pattani leader who was the son of the last Raja of Pattani, allied himself with the British in the hopes that should the allies win, Pattani would be granted independence after the war. After the war, there was an attempt to establish a "Greater Malay Pattani State" (Negara Melayu Patani Raya), but the British gave this movement no support and hopes of an independent Pattani were shattered.

In the late 1940s when the Phibun regime tried to impose Thai-language education on the area the Pattani leader Haji Sulong Tokmina (who had supported the Japanese during the war as a rival to the pro-British Tengku Mahmud Mahyuddin), wanted cultural autonomy but not independence. He was imprisoned in 1948 and killed by the police shortly after his release in 1952. There was then little overt secessionist agitation until the liberalisation of Thai politics in the 1980s, but separatist groups such as the National Revolutionary Front (Barisan Revolusi Nasional, BRN) survived and maintained a base of support.

In 2002, Thaksin Shinawatra stated, "There's no separatism, no ideological terrorists, just common bandits." By 2004 he had reversed his position, and has come to regard the insurgency as the local front in the global War on Terrorism. Martial law was instituted in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in January of 2004, and violence increased, with 200 Muslims killed by troops during the year. In April, troops killed over 100 Muslim men in Yala province who attacked well-defended police stations with only light weapons, in what police described as "suicidal" attacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency

[Mid]

surely this can't be the work of the southern insurgents since all those bombs only killed what, 1 person? strangely similar to the bangkok bombings. i think it may be the work of 'people who lost power' na krap.

When I come across an absurd posting, I can normally ignore it. But when I come across one that is TOTALLY absurd, I must reply.

So Mr. Dude, or Khun Dude, if there are more than one killed, then it may not be the work of "people who lost power". Since there is only one killed, so it is linked to the Bangkok bombing? Oh dear. What myopic thinking.

Have you not consider that the bombs were meant to have maximum casualty effect?" But fortunately it did not?

Cited as the lowest form of wit

[Richb2004v2]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Do you think it could be that Israel is behind this as they would like to take over Southern Thailand? This way Israel will get a cheap source of Rain water for the desert.

It’s bound to be the fault of the Israelis. By default if the Muslims let of a bomb or kill some one it is usually the fault of the Israelis. If not the Israelis than some one else, anyone other than the Muslims that actually did the killing.

There is of course always the chance that this has nothing to do with either the Israelis or the Muslims.

[Tony Clifton]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Do you think it could be that Israel is behind this as they would like to take over Southern Thailand? This way Israel will get a cheap source of Rain water for the desert.

I can mail you a free promotional hat for those long hours spent under the sun. Comes with a free world map as well.

Edited February 18, 2007 by Tony Clifton

[KireB]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Do you think it could be that Israel is behind this as they would like to take over Southern Thailand? This way Israel will get a cheap source of Rain water for the desert.

Cheap remark Henry B! Why don't you give your opinion!

Who's behind it? What do they want?

No one knows, do we?

[seagull]

Mosques were burned? What do these people want exactly? Killing Muslims as well as Buddhists while also burning their own mosques...

Some might be retaliation between both Muslims and Budhists. But it is not uncommon that the muslim militants or seperatist to kill their own. Just as in Indonesia. With the exception of the Bali incident where more foreigners were killed, the other bombing incidents killed more muslims than westerners. Example, the marriott hotel in Jakarta were bombed. One foreigner were killed, whereas 10 or 11 locals similarly died in the blast. (I could not exactly remember the figures, that's as close as I can recall)

Edited February 18, 2007 by seagull

[bkkmadness]

surely this can't be the work of the southern insurgents since all those bombs only killed what, 1 person? strangely similar to the bangkok bombings. i think it may be the work of 'people who lost power' na krap.

When I come across an absurd posting, I can normally ignore it. But when I come across one that is TOTALLY absurd, I must reply.

So Mr. Dude, or Khun Dude, if there are more than one killed, then it may not be the work of "people who lost power". Since there is only one killed, so it is linked to the Bangkok bombing? Oh dear. What myopic thinking.

Have you not consider that the bombs were meant to have maximum casualty effect?" But fortunately it did not?

Cited as the lowest form of wit

underrated in my opinion.......

Edited February 18, 2007 by bkkmadness

[Robski]

Reason for edit; forgot to engage brain or clean my glasses.

Edited February 18, 2007 by Robski

[asd]

Yala Hospital

''All of us are willing to cooperate in every way to create peace in the three southern border provinces urgently,'' General Sonthi said

Queen had deep concerns for all Thais and wanted those involved to reconcile and cooperate.

[asd]

For the past three years, roadside bombings followed by brief gunfights or drive-by shooting attacks by gunmen on motorbikes have taken place on a daily basis in the restive region. More than 1,700 people have been killed since January 2004.

Groups of insurgents occasionally carry out simultaneous attacks that are apparently intended to inflict psychological damage rather than real destruction.

The main motivation behind the killings of government officials and suspected informants appears to be a hatred of the state apparatus and the desire to get even for what the militants have deemed the history of injustice against the ethnic Malays.

But with Thaksin out of the picture, the atmosphere has improved. People in the restive South have welcomed Sonthi's announcement. They have also hailed newly elected Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who blamed the problems in the South on the state's long-running injustice towards the Malays.

[IMA_FARANG]

surely this can't be the work of the southern insurgents since all those bombs only killed what, 1 person? strangely similar to the bangkok bombings. i think it may be the work of 'people who lost power' na krap.

Not on your life.

Here's the info you don't have.

It is becoming obvious to those who deal with the problem that there is more than the southern insurgency involved.

The old-line leadership is still trying to keep on with a bombing campaign in the south only.

There are younger are more radical Muslims who feel the older leadership is out-dated.

They feel that a more radical process is needed, somewhat like the Bali bombings.

So far the older leadership is resisting a more vilolent stand. These bombs may be there to give them some continued credibility with the younger militants.

If they can't, the younger militants will be taking over.

That may lead to the insurgancy going to the tourist places OUTSIDE the south.

Sorry to tell you this, but you ought to be aware.

[asd]

Insurgent attacks in South left six dead, scores injured

Bombers, attackers and arsonists went on a rampage in the three southernmost provinces and Songkhla Sunday evening, causing at least six deaths and scores of injuries.

Initial reports of casualties were sketchy. It was believed that at least two people were killed and some 20 injured when a bomb went off at karaoke shops in Narathitwat's Sungai Kolok district.

Teenagers riding pickup trucks carried out the attacks, clashed with armed forces at a checkpoint and set fire on at least one school, initial reports from Narathiwat said. Simultaneous attacks also were carried out in Songkhla, Yala and Pattani.

Bombs exploded at over ten places in Yala's night entertainment venues as well as an electricitygenerating plant in Pattani. Electricity has been out for over an hour. Officials ordered Yala residents to stay home in the wake of bomb attacks, which were believed to have injured many.

Initial details from Yala were also sketchy. Reports attacks took place at inner city areas. Targets included Sridara karaoke shop, My Way restaurant, Nong Mai karaoke shop, Suan Kaew karaoke shop, an Esso gas station, Sri Yala Hotel, Shell gas station, a shopping complex, and a transport office headquarters. Attacks in outer city areas took place in front of a golf driving range and in front of a power plant in tambon Sateng Nok.

In Pattani, a bomb exploded at a small power station of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, causing a widespread power outage in Muang district and surrounding areas.

Five minutes after the blackout, teenagers on motorcyles, wearing black and white scarfs went on a rampage on streets. There were reportedly ambushes government offices and several residences in many districts. One house was burnt down in Yaring district. One suspect was arrested in Sai Buri district. Insurgents also shot police and military officials and blocked routes in the province.

Power has been resumed in 95 per cent of affected areas, the Pattani governor told iTV after 9pm. Many important places in Songkhla were also attacked by arsonists while schools and mosques in Narathiwat were also under attack.

According to initial reports from Songkhla, trouble occurred at 11 spots in three districts bordering the three southernmost provinces. Incidents included an arson attack on a house, the shooting of a janitor whose condition was still unclear, burning of tyres in several areas including near a border policemen base, and burning of an electricity pole and a phone booth.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/

[MyPenRye]

I think that, initially, we were dealing with a separatist movement (that had some form of legitimacy, considering that these provinces are not real Thai provinces,...), but I think that Al Qaeda has infiltrated the movement or is using the situation. YOu would think that the movement leaders would have used T.'s departure as a way to resolve this issue. Al Qaeda wan't to keep the fire alive, just like some extremists want. What wold hey be doing if this was resolved? Just like in Palestine, whenever there is a glimmer of hope, more bombings take place. If Thailand was smart, they would talk with Malaysia and make a treaty to give them back what belonged to them. Of course, greed has to be set aside. As if that's going to happen!

[kalaminsa]

from Al Jazerra ...

'Bangkok not interested in peace'

By Romen Bose, Al Jazeera Kuala Lumpur

Wan Kadir Che Wan has called on the

government to be sincere

The leader of an umbrella group of separatists in south Thailand says the government is not interested in peace.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Wan Kadir Che Wan, the president of Bersatu, said that while Surayud Chulanont, the Thai prime minister, had made several trips to the south, he had not spoken to separatist groups.

More than two months after Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled and despite Surayud's apology for the misdeeds of his predecessor, Wan Kadir, from an undisclosed location outside Thailand, criticised the new government's attempts to organise mass meetings as "propaganda".

"I think it is right for the government to go to see the people, to talk to the people, communicate, but it's not enough to solve the problem," said Wan Kadir.

"You really have to sit down with the leaders who create the problem – a separate meeting, you have to sit down and talk to those leaders and ask them and you can give them what they want.

"You try to give them what they want; you cannot give then you say so but as far as I know, the government as of now does not make that approach in the south for these negotiations – forget about even negotiations, to even make a talk with the separatists. [They] only go to talk to the public."

However, Wan Kadir, who is also president of the armed separatist group Barisan Islam Pembangunan Pattani or BIPP, said talks with the various groups in the south would not be easy.

"Of course you cannot go straight to the people who are fighting now, but you can go to their leaders, and then gradually go to those groups," he said.

The Bersatu organisation consists of three groups: BIPP, Pattani United Liberation Organisation and Barisan Revolusi Nasional – Coordinate.

The Barisan Revolusi Nasional – Congress (BRN-Congress) just left Bersatu.

Wan Kadir said of BRN-Congress's exit:

"The Muslim want to retain their identity as Malay Muslim, they do not want to be assimilated to be Thai"

Wan Kadir Che Wan, president of Bersatu

"Maybe they disagree; we are willing to compromise, we are willing to talk to the Thai government, we are willing to negotiate. Some of those groups do not believe that, the government is our enemy. They may think I am not effective anymore but they should change the leader rather than get out if they think that I am not effective anymore."

Dissension within Bersatu began after Mahathir Mohamad, the former Malaysian prime minister, and Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, Thailand's honorary consul on Langkawi island in Malaysia, began speaking with various armed groups that wanted to end the violence to work out a strategy for peace.

After being endorsed by King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand, Mahathir and his son Mukhriz, along with Shazryl negotiated a peace plan which was agreed to by all main armed groups in south Thailand.

As Wan Kadir noted: "The majority of the people feel very doubtful that separation – complete separation – is possible.

"Therefore they think they should be other way, compromise, so that they can have certain things for Muslims, especially the identity, the main thing.

Identity

"The Muslim want to retain their identity as Malay Muslim, they do not want to be assimilated to be Thai. The Thai government I think does not understand that, they think that assimilation is good … for Malay areas, assimilation is almost impossible because they have separate history … and they are proud of their Islamic achievement in the area and therefore it is very difficult to assimilate."

The plan was submitted to the Thaksin government in August but no action was taken.

Following Thaksin's ouster in September and the declaration by General Sondhi Boonyarataglin, the coup leader, that he was committed to a peaceful settlement in the south, many of these groups were hoping that the plan would be quickly endorsed by the generals in Bangkok.

But the Thai government has yet to commit to it.

Dozens of civilians have been killed

and wounded in the past week

Wan Kadir says that unless the Thai government is willing to use the Mahathir peace plan as a basis for negotiations, things will go back to square one.

Many of the armed groups, including the Bersatu organisation, want to end the troubles but without serious negotiations, the problems will continue, says Wan Kadir.

"The main point is the government has to make an effort to go to see [the leaders] to talk to them. Talk to them seriously and secretly, not open. When openly, they don't really reveal the real thing… The main thing is the government must be honest, the government must be determined to solve this problem."

Islamic state

However, Wan Kadir says that although the groups under Bersatu are willing to negotiate, many of the recent bombings in the south are the result of new, younger fighters who are not so accommodating.

"This new generation of people, they are very young and they are very determined ... the old generation can compromise but this new generation seems to still want independence.

"Not only independence but they want to establish an Islamic state of Pattani."

Dozens of civilians have been killed and injured in just the past week in the southern provinces as attacks continue unabated.

Wan Kadir says the new groups responsible for much of the violence are unwilling to talk to the government because they believe they are winning in their attacks against Thai military targets. Wan Kadir says they are well-armed and funded. More importantly, they have an insider.

"As far as I understand … they have been collecting the weapons for a long time in preparation and also the money … so this is not just accident, this is a planning … the main advantage of this situation is that … they are inside the Thai government itself so they know many things."

Wan Kadir admits that many of the activities of these younger groups are facilitated by groups such as al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah or JI which now has a presence in the south.

"I think that many of the group are there but maybe they are not directly involved."

The veteran fighter says that it is almost impossible for the government to begin negotiating with these younger fighters but holding talks with older groups such as Bersatu would provide the Thai military with a good opening.

Regardless of who the generals speak to, they must be sincere, he says.

"Do not treat the Muslim in the south as colonial subjects … because we feel that the Thais are treating us like colonial subjects… If you treat us that way, it is not going to be peaceful. You have to treat us as citizens of Thailand. We don't want any more than that. We don't want special treatment … we just want them to treat us the same as other people in the country. We are below, not above the law."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1BC...88DF76B9F47.htm

[cdnvic]

I think they need to draw a line somewhere. Anyone who wants the insurgency for a government stand on southern side. The rest, stand on the northern side of the line. Then cut off the southern half from all aid with Thailand. Take their ID cards and passports.

I bet they would start dropping dimes then about who is causing all the problems.

Being cut loose from Thailand is exactly what these insurgents want though. Why surrender like that?

[MyPenRye]

See above (Al Jazeera interview):

"You really have to sit down with the leaders who create the problem [...]"

Leaders ... "who CREATE problems",... there is a slip of the tongue!

Yes! Of course! When problems are solved there might not be so much of a need for them! Right? So, sometimes, it is good to make it appear as it is the other side that's doing something wrong to make the problem continue. Leaders --in general-- are the scum of the earth. Most of them have to do dirty business to get there. Nixon is good example, but there are countless examples. Just check your boss.

As I said earlier, Thailand wants to hang on to something that was given to them in a past treaty. However, the British should not have offered this in the first place. The leader of the time did accept it though (with some money in his bank account, no doubt, but I digress).

It is going to take someone very ... functional to do what is right here and give back to Malaysia what belongs to Malaysia (since those people are from there).

Edited February 18, 2007 by MyPenRye

[cdnvic]

It is going to take someone very ... functional to do what is right here and give back to Malaysia what belongs to Malaysia (since those people are from there).

Malaysia isn't asking for it back.

[sriracha john]

One killed, many wounded in attacks in Thai south

BANGKOK: -- A series of bomb and arson attacks killed one person and wounded at least 33 in Thailand's Muslim south on Sunday, damaging karaoke bars, schools and petrol and power stations, police and witnesses said.

The coordinated attacks were spread across Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani bordering Malaysia, where more than 2,000 people have been killed in a three-year-old separatist insurgency.

In Narathiwat, one person was killed and 10 were wounded in blasts at five karaoke bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok, police radio said.

Twenty-three people were wounded in and around Yala's provincial capital, a Reuters witness at the main hospital said.

Police radio reported arson attacks on three schools in Narathiwat and Pattani's provincial capital fell dark after a bomb knocked out a power station.

--Reuters 2007-02-18

I am not pro-thaksin nor anyone else. But if I recalled correctly, thaksin once said that the south must be ruled with an "iron fist". He is right. The current government prefers a "soft approach" to the problems in the south. (maybe because the junta chief is a muslim?) I must now that I agree with thaksin's suggested ways.

Thaksin's "way" succeeded only in making matters worse, fuelling the fires, and resulted in 1,800 dead.

Perhaps there is some other method, as yet, untried... such as Malaysia's offer to mediate talks.