No End In Sight As South Thai Rebellion Enters Fifth Year

[sriracha john]

In all this hoopla over Thaksin, you're starting to forget about us...

2 Soldiers Killed in Narathiwat

Two field Army officers have been shot dead by a ten-member militant group in an ambush in Narathiwat.

Police officers inspected the guardhouse in front of the dormitory of the military base situated behind Ban Kae Na School in Narathiwat after more than ten militants from the RKK group ambushed and shot at the military base. The gun battle went on for more than 30 minutes.

The attack killed 18-year-old Nassaree Towae-ayee, in the dormitory hall, and seriously injured 20-year-old Watcharin Da-ao, who died later in hospital. Some 60 cartridges were found at the forest in front of the guardhouse.

While two field Army officers stood guard, two groups of RKK militants split and shot at the guardhouse and dormitory, targeting more than ten field Army officers.

Two militants were killed in the incident.

Recently, the officers were tracking RKK groups believed to be hiding in the area. The military base had been set up for two months and 60 field Army officers were staying there.

- Thailand Outlook

Edited February 29, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

Two volunteer rangers die in hail of bullets

Narathiwat - Two volunteer rangers were killed in an attack on a military outpost in Muang district yesterday. Nassari Tohwae-ayee, 18, and Watcharin Daoh, 20, of the 46th Ranger Regiment, were keeping guard at an observation post at the back of a school about 3am when 10 armed attackers opened fire on them. The two were killed in a 30-minute exchange of gunfire. Police said the attackers showered the outpost with bullets aimed at both the observation post and the adjacent living quarters. Following the attack, a 100-strong combined security force used sniffer dogs to hunt for the armed group within a one-kilometre radius of the base. Security workers searched the area for more than four hours but the attackers, believed to be members of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent network, were not found. Witnesses said the attackers were picked up by a man in a pick-up truck.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/01Mar2008_news08.php

Edited March 1, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

There's been no let up over the past several days...

Eight killed in shooting in Thai south

Eight people were killed after unknown gunmen stormed into a prominent doctor's home in southern Thailand.

Suthathip Thammachart, the director of a hospital in Songkhla province, and seven friends visiting her home were killed in the attack around midnight, police said.

They said the reason for the attack was still under investigation, but the health ministry ruled out a link to the Islamic separatist insurgency raging in nearby provinces along the Malaysian border.

"The shooting was not related with violence in nearby provinces, a lover's quarrel or hospital management," the ministry's deputy permanent secretary Pipat Yingseree said in a statement.

Songkhla province borders the Muslim-majority region where a separatist insurgency has raged for more than four years. Violence occasionally spills into Songkhla, but Suthathip's home was not in an area prone to attacks.

More than 2,900 people have been killed since unrest broke out in January 2004 in the south, which was an autonomous sultanate until Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension.

- AFP

===================================================================

2 soldiers injured in Narathiwat school bombing

Narathiwat - Two soldiers were injured Tuesday after insurgents detonated a bomb inside a primary school in this southern border province.

The explosion occurred inside the compound of Ban Koh Sri Phangan School in Tambon Koh Sathon of Tak Bai district at 3:10 pm.

The soldiers, deployed to protect teachers, were taking a rest at the spot when the explosion occured.

Fortunately, students were not injured as most have left the school while Grade 6 students were taking a national test.

- The Nation

[sriracha john]

SOUTHERN VIOLENCE

Policeman killed in ambush

A policeman was killed and two fellow officers critically injured in an ambush in Raman district of Yala yesterday. The slain officer was identified as Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Muztaz Sohlem, 48. The injured officers were Pol Cpl Sathaporn Kaewsikao, 31, and Pol L/C Chaiwat Chaiwee, 23. Police said the policemen were attacked while they were out gathering intelligence information in the neighbourhood. The assailants retreated after a 10-minute exchange of gunfire with the officers. In Narathiwat, nine sacks of urea fertiliser, a key component in bomb-making, were seized in a pre-dawn raid on a village in Tak Bai district yesterday. The search followed a bomb blast at a local school in the same district on Tuesday. In Pattani, two policemen were severely wounded by a bomb at a market in Panare district

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/06Mar2008_news12.php

[sriracha john]

Taking it back up several notches....

2 killed, 14 injured in car bomb attack at Pattani hotel

Pattani - A powerful bomb exploded Saturday at Pattani's popular CS Hotel, killing two and injuring at least 14, including owner Anusas Suwanmongkhol and Nation Multimedia Group journalist Pares Lohasen.

A smaller bomb had exploded at 8 pm in a ground floor restroom, causing little damage. Then, 20 minutes later, another

was detonated outside the hotel coffee shop.

A security guard was killed instantly, and a hotel driver died later in hospital. Of the injured, five were taken to hospital.

The explosion broke all the eight storey hotel's windows.

Anusas is an appointed Senator.

The bomb was hid inside a car parked in front of the hotel about 15 metres from the lobby. Two of the injured were in critical condition. The injured were rushed to the provincial hospital.

A security official said the car bomb might be linked to a failed car bomb attempt in Yala in which the alleged insurgent was killed in the afternoon because the two cars were the same make and colour.

The security source said the insurgents chose the spot because leading figures often came to drink coffee and chat in the lobby. The hotel is about 1 kilometre away from another hotel where the Thai Journalist Association was holding a seminar.

The source said while security officials stepped up protection of the hotel where the seminar was being held, security measures at CS Hotel might lax, allowing the attack to be made.

- The Nation

[sriracha john]

Car bomb

Pattani - A huge explosion from a parked car at a hotel on Saturday evening killed at least two people and injured 13 others including Senator Anusart Suwanmongkol. The bomb went off in the evening at the car park adjacent to CS Pattani Hotel in Pattani. Pornjit Prapinvanich, director of Pattani hospital, said that one person was killed and 13 others were wounded. Ten patients were treated and discharged, Pornjit said. Sen Anusart is among the 74 selected members of the new Senate, and represents the southern business sector. Two members of the Pattani Provincial Council were among the wounded. Many glass windows were shattered by the bomb blast at one of the few luxury hotels in the Deep South. Somchai Kaotong, 40, who was wounded in the head and arm by the car bomb, recalled that the armed vehicle was parked "in a different manner" from other vehicles at the hotel, directed towards the lobby.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/tops...s.php?id=126533

[sriracha john]

Another car bomb also went off in Yala... apparently killing the bomber

Bomb Kills One, Wounds 12 In Muslim Thai South

A bomb killed one man and wounded 12 people in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south on Saturday, police said on Saturday. The bomb, hidden in a car, exploded near the entrance of a hotel in the city of Pattani, one of three far south provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a separatist insurgency that erupted in January 2004.

Seven of the wounded suffered serious injuries, they said.

The bomb also destroyed more than a dozen cars and damaged the front of the hotel, police said.

Earlier on Saturday, a man with two bombs in his car was killed when they exploded prematurely in the city of Yala, another of the three far south provinces which formed an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago.

The bombs, each weighing 15 kg (33 lb), exploded near a school, killing the man instantly, but nobody else was injured, police said. The man may have been planning to carry out an attack in the region, they said.

No one claims responsibility for attacks in the far south, where most people speak a Malay dialect and where the government has stationed several thousand troops in a so far unsuccessful attempt to quell the unrest.

- Reuters

[sriracha john]

Flames billow from a burning car following a car bomb blast outside a hotel in Thailand's restive southern Pattani province. A powerful car bomb exploded at a hotel car park Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring 13 others in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, an army spokesman and hospital official said.

AFP

Police and military officials survey the site of a bomb explosion at the entrance of the C.S. Hotel in South Thailand's Pattani province March 15, 2008. A bomb, hidden in a car, exploded near the entrance of a hotel in the city of Pattani, one of three far south provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a separatist insurgency that erupted in January 2004.

REUTERS

==========================================================================

Car bomb kills 2 in Thailand

PATTANI, Thailand - A bomb exploded in the parking lot of an upscale hotel in Thailand's restive south on Saturday, killing two people and wounding 14 others, police said.

The blast shattered windows as high as the eighth floor of the C.S. Pattani Hotel, the largest hotel in Thailand's southern provinces, where a Muslim insurgency has been under way since 2004.

The bomb was hidden in a fire extinguisher inside a parked car near the hotel's entrance, said Col. Tawatchai Samutsakorn. Police found and defused a second bomb in a hotel restroom, he said. No one immediately claimed responsibility, and authorities did not speculate on who was behind the attack.

A hotel security guard died in the explosion and the other victim died later at a hospital, Tawatchai said.

A Senator from Pattani province, Anusas Suwanmongkhol, owns the hotel and suffered a slight head wound in the explosion, Tawatchai said. A Thai television journalist and two children were also lightly wounded, he said.

An outdoor cafe attached to the hotel was badly damaged. The hotel has tight security and a reputation as the safest place to stay in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

The three southern provinces are the only Muslim-dominated area of Buddhist-majority Thailand. Violence has surged this year after a lull in the second half of 2007.

The insurgency has killed more than 2,900 people since 2004.

- Associated Press

Edited March 16, 2008 by sriracha john

[Scott]

It looks like things are getting ratched up a notch down there.

[sriracha john]

It certainly does, Scott.... and now there's more...

Three separate bombs kill three, wound 21 in Thai south

PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - Bombs killed three men and wounded 21 people in three separate attacks in Thailand's troubled far south, police said on Sunday.

A 20-kg (44-lb) remote-controlled bomb, hidden in a car near the entrance of a hotel in the city of Pattani, killed one man instantly and wounded 13 others on Saturday, police said.

Three were injured seriously in the blast which destroyed more than a dozen cars and damaged the front of the CS Pattani hotel where officials visiting from Bangkok often stay.

One of them died on Sunday, police said.

Pattani is one of three southern provinces where more than 2,500 people have been killed in gun and bomb attacks since a separatist insurgency erupted in January 2004.

Hours after the hotel bombing, suspected militants used a mobile phone to detonate a 5-kg (11-lb) bomb at a Pattani school, killing a fire-fighter and wounding five others. The fire-fighters were trying to put out a fire at the school when the bomb went off.

As security forces rushed the wounded to hospital, they were ambushed by insurgents. One soldier was wounded seriously, police said.

On Sunday, a bomb wounded four people at a music CD shop in the city of Narathiwat, another of the three far south provinces which formed an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago, police said.

The bomb was believed to be hidden in the shop by a suspected militant pretending to be a customer, they said.

Security personnel along with Buddhist monks and government school teachers are prime targets for militants in the region.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for attacks in the deep south, where where the government has stationed several thousand troops in a so far unsuccessful attempt to quell the unrest.

- Reuters

[sriracha john]

Escalating the stereotypical motorcycle bomb up to a car bomb with 45 pounds of explosives capable of taking off the face of a hotel is going in a whole new direction...

Car bombs stoke fears in the South

Concern over more radical militant tactics

Unprecedented car bombs in Pattani and Yala over the weekend that left three people dead and many injured have triggered concerns among security authorities and analysts that insurgents in the far South are shifting to more advanced and radical tactics. Two people died and 13 were injured by a car bomb on Saturday night that exploded in the parking lot of the CS Pattani, a hotel whose regular guests include government officials, security officials, NGO workers, politicians and journalists. Another bomb went off near a toilet at the hotel. Only a few hours earlier, a car bomb in Yala killed the driver of the vehicle. Police believe the victim was an insurgent and bombs being carried inside the vehicle exploded before they were intended to. The blasts have clearly rattled the authorities in the three southernmost border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where daily shootings by pillion riders as well as roadside bombs and explosive devices hidden in motorcycles have become commonplace. But this time, Deputy Commander of the Yala Task Force Maendet said, the militants had come up with advanced tactics, after the authorities had been successful in combating their previous methods. Commander of the Pattani Task Force Samutsakhon said that by targetting the CS Pattani hotel, separatists were sending a clear message. The attack on one of the safest hotels in the far South had a strong psychological impact, he said. Pattani Senator Worawit Baru said the bombings had opened a new chapter of violence in the South. Yesterday, a bomb disposal squad found a bomb-packed fire extinguisher on a rooftop of a nearby house, about 80m away from the blast site. Police said the blast may have sent the third bomb flying and destroyed its trigger.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/17Mar2008_news01.php

=====================================

Including the Reuters report of the school bombing in Pattani and the other bombing at a music CD shop in Narathiwat, that makes six bombings over the week-end with five of them going off...

Edited March 17, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

And on Monday, the bombings continue... this time injuring children... plus elsewheres, 2 others are shot dead...

Insurgent bomb wounds seven children

Seven children and one soldier were wounded when southern insurgents detonated a bomb on a motorcycle on Monday, police said. The bomb was placed on a motorcycle petrol tank and detonated by remote control. The motorcycle was parked at a house in Bannang Sata district of Yala province. Insurgents apparently hoped to kill soldiers patrolling the area. All victims were sent to Yala provincial hospital. In a separate incident, two Muslim men were shot and killed by suspected insurgents in a drive-by killing on the Talohhalor-Raman Road in Yala about 9 a.m. on Monday.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=126565

[sriracha john]

Now we know why so many children were hurt.... the bomb went off at a playground....

8 children injured in Yala bomb attack

Yala - Eight children were injured, three seriously, when insurgents detonated a bomb at a playground in Bannang Sata district.

The bomb hid inside a motorcycle and left near a playground behind a house exploded, Banang Sata district chief Methi Kanachanphuwa said.

Some of the injured children were sitting in the house and the rest were playing in the playground.

- The Nation

[Gravelrash]

Now we know why so many children were hurt.... the bomb went off at a playground....

8 children injured in Yala bomb attack

Yala - Eight children were injured, three seriously, when insurgents detonated a bomb at a playground in Bannang Sata district.

The bomb hid inside a motorcycle and left near a playground behind a house exploded, Banang Sata district chief Methi Kanachanphuwa said.

Some of the injured children were sitting in the house and the rest were playing in the playground.

- The Nation

John, you certainly keep an eye on the south, I had no idea the level of ongoing killing was as high as it is. I still would think that the level of atrocity is indicative of a Muslim rather than separatist ideology, although the end goal is the same.

Should they ever get autonomy, I suspect one wouldn't want to be a non-muslim living there.

[sriracha john]

Should they ever get autonomy, I suspect one wouldn't want to be a non-muslim living there.

With the killings now crossing religious lines and every other sort of line.... I wouldn't want to be a human living there.

[sriracha john]

One of the bombings:

Thai policemen inspect the wreckage after a bomb explosion in Yala province, March 17, 2008. The explosion wounded eight people, including a soldier, police said.

REUTERS

One of the shootings:

A policeman takes a photograph as the body of an administrative sub-district official is removed in Yala province, March 17, 2008. The official and another man were shot dead by suspected Muslim militants, police said.

REUTERS

[Scott]

It would seem that there is more outside help than the authorities are willing to acknowledge. I am curious:

Where do they get the explosives?

Where did they get the vehicles?

I doubt that the explosives are readily available and available in such quantities that coordinated attacks are possible. I know previously, there were some stolen explosives from mining sites, but this would hardly account for the amount (and maybe the type) used in the South.

The vehicles should be traceable. I wonder if any of the stolen vehicles from the rental scam are showing up in the South.

It would seem that there's more disinformation than information, or is this just a security ploy?

[sriracha john]

Escalating the stereotypical motorcycle bomb up to a car bomb with 45 pounds of explosives capable of taking off the face of a hotel is going in a whole new direction...

Car bombs stoke fears in the South

Concern over more radical militant tactics

Unprecedented car bombs in Pattani and Yala over the weekend that left three people dead and many injured have

=====================================

Including the Reuters report of the school bombing in Pattani and the other bombing at a music CD shop in Narathiwat, that makes six bombings over the week-end with five of them going off...

Protecting the South

Saturday's car-bomb attack on the best-known hotel in the deep South should send urgent, twin signals to both the government and security forces. The so-called southern insurgents are becoming more deeply radical, more murderously violent, more dangerously terroristic. The car bomb and other weekend violence once again demonstrated that the gangs are determined to show a ruthless side never seen in Thailand. Beheadings, ambushes of innocent bystanders and now car bombs, make it clear the shadowy gangs of the South are determined to use the most terrible and bloody violence. The large and deadly car bomb at the CS Pattani Hotel marked the first such use of this fearful tactic. Indeed, the fact that separatists attacked the hotel was itself an important escalation of the conflict by the increasingly uncivilised gangs. The evening explosion had no specific target and no legitimate military objective.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/18Mar2008_news21.php

[sriracha john]

The bombings and shootings pick up this morning where they left off yesterday and the day before that and the....

Two Muslim villagers wounded in Yala mosque bombing

YALA, March 18 (TNA) – Two men were wounded in a bomb blast at a mosque in this southern border province of Yala Tuesday morning.

Bueraheng Dorna, 53, and Jema Sulong, 73, were slightly wounded. The two men were given first aid treatment and returned home.

Early on Tuesday a pick-up truck stopped outside the mosque and an unidentiified assailant was seen throwing the bomb into the mosque, wounding the two men.

Meanwhile, in Pattani, the police inspected a tea shop attacked by insurgents on Monday night.

A bomb was hidden under a bench and was remotely detonated by a mobile phone. Two persons were wounded in the bombing and were sent to hospital.

Meanwhile, in Narathiwat a suspected insurgent was shot dead and another was detained for questioning during a raid in Narathiwat on Tuesday. Soldiers scoured an area in Ruso district and an unknown number of attackers opened fire at officials.

After an exchange of gunfire, the assailants disengaged, leaving one of their number dead from the encounter.

[Thaising]

Thai minister says 'no idea' how to solve unrest

BANGKOK, March 18, 2008 (AFP) - Thailand's interior minister said Tuesday he had 'no idea' how to curb unrest in the nation's Muslim-majority south, as the government announced an emergency meeting following a deadly hotel attack.

"I must say I have no idea how to solve this problem," Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung told reporters, saying the insurgency stemmed from Muslim feelings of discrimination by mainly Buddhist Thailand.

"The southern unrest is a very serious problem. It's about their religion and their beliefs, and their grievances about discrimination," he said.

Chalerm said Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will hold an emergency meeting with security officials on Friday following the weekend hotel attack.

Two people were killed and 10 others injured Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the parking lot of a smart hotel that had been considered a safe zone for business and political leaders visiting the province of Pattani.

The conflict is entering its fifth year, but Thailand has made little visible progress even in identifying the people or groups behind the attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the violence, which has killed nearly 3,000 people since early 2004, and the government has yet to publicly identify any of the militancy's leadership.

While the previous military government launched a raft of peace-building measures, almost daily shootings and bomb attacks continued to rock the region.

In the latest attacks Tuesday, a Muslim militant was killed after a gun battle with 70 security forces in Narathiwat province, police said, while two Muslims were hurt after rebels hurled a grenade into a mosque in Yala.

The restive region was once an autonomous Malay sultanate, but was annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

OH MY GOD! THE MINISTER HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO SOLVE AND WHAT'S WENT WRONG IN THE SOUTH.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Thaising

[sriracha john]

No way forward seen in insurgency; government calls urgent meeting

BANGKOK, March 18 (TNA) -- The toll of the dead and wounded from the continuing violence in Thailand's insurgency-afflicted South continued to rise Tuesday, with the biggest loss yet being the government's credibility.

The Interior Mminister, the Thai government official charged with finding a solution to the faceless and seemingly endless insurgency, admitted Tuesday that he sees no way out and that the government's security agencies and the opposition Democrats will. *perhaps they should have selected a Democrat for Interior Minister in the PPP government???*

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said Tuesday the government is paying close attention to the continuing insurgency in the Muslim-majority border provinces, but despite the serious nature of the problem, the minister conceded that the government could not find an effective strategy to contain and reduce the still escalating violence.

The government has not identified its opponent, or opponents, in the standoff. Locked in a state of siege without a way out, the Interior Minister is convening a wider circle of concerned agencies and organisations, to rise to the need for a national solution.

Police Captain Chalerm said he has called a meeting of state agencies concerned on Friday to seek a solution and that opposition Democrat party members are being invited to attend the meeting to add their opinions.

The Democrats have historically had a strong base of political support in the Muslim areas and, despite being Bangkok-focused in many ways, the party is perceived as having special expertise and sympathy in regard to the south.

Last weekend's deadly hotel bombing, affecting a presumed 'safe zone' in a high-end Pattani hotel, left Interior Minister Chalerm with a simple response: "I don't have any idea how to solve (the insurgency)," he told reporters, explaining fairly that the insurgency was a result of differences and perceived discrimination against Muslims who say are made to feel they don't really belong to mainly Buddhist Thailand.

"The southern unrest is a very serious problem," Interior Minister Chalerm said. "It's based in their religion, their beliefs, and their complaints regarding discrimination," he said.

Two people were killed and 10 others injured Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the parking lot of the CS Pattani hotel that had been considered a safe zone for business and political leaders visiting the province of Pattani.

Nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of the insurgency, despite no group claiming responsibility for it. There is no public or even governmental perception , it seems, regarding who is behind the violence, and what do they want.

The previous government, appointed by the coup-makers headed by Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, himself a Muslim, initiated varied reconciliation and peace-building measures, but the violence did not abate.

Early on Tuesday a pick-up truck stopped outside the mosque and an unidentiified assailant was seen throwing the bomb into a mosque, wounding two men.

In Pattani, the police inspected a tea shop attacked by insurgents on Monday night.

The bomb was hidden under a bench and was remotely detonated by a mobile phone. Two persons were wounded in the bombing and were sent to hospital.

Meanwhile, in Narathiwat a suspected insurgent was shot dead and another was detained for questioning during a raid in Narathiwat on Tuesday. Soldiers scoured an area in Ruso district and an unknown number of attackers fired on officials.

After a firefight, the assailants left, leaving one of their members dead from the encounter.

[sriracha john]

U.S. warns off travelers to southern Thailand after grenade hurled into mosque, wounding 2

BANGKOK, Thailand – The U.S. State Department urged Americans on Tuesday to postpone travel plans to restive southern Thailand following a weekend attack on a hotel that was popular with foreigners.

The warning coincided with a grenade attack Tuesday at a mosque in southern Yala province, which wounded two caretakers.

The recent spate of violence appears to have shifted to public places where tourists might congregate, the U.S. statement said.

“Although the extremist groups focus primarily on Thai government interests in the southern provinces, some of the recent violence in the area has targeted public places, including areas where tourists may congregate,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

On Saturday evening, a powerful car bomb went off at the C.S. Pattani hotel in Pattani province, killing two people and wounding 14. The hotel has long been used as a base for visiting journalists, foreigners and government officials.

Drive-by shootings and bombings occur almost daily in Thailand's southern Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, the only Muslim-majority areas of the Buddhist country. The region, which borders Malaysia, has been gripped by an insurgency that has claimed more than 2,900 lives since 2004.

In the latest attack on Tuesday, attackers hurled a hand grenade at a mosque in Yala city just after several dozen worshippers had cleared out from morning prayers.

Police were searching for at least two men who parked a pickup truck in front of the mosque and then threw a grenade onto the building's roof, which rolled down and exploded near the entrance, said police Col. Pitsawut Sanguansombatsiri, one of the investigating officers.

Authorities blamed the attack on suspected Muslim insurgents, who are routinely accused of carrying out attacks on Muslims as part of a strategy to intensify anger over the bloodshed and push more Muslims to join the insurgency. Muslims and Buddhists who work for the government are viewed as collaborators and are regularly targeted by insurgents.

“I don't believe they meant to kill people, since they attacked after prayers. They just wanted to cause a disturbance,” Pitsawut said.

In a separate incident, a suspected insurgent was shot and killed in a gunbattle with policemen and soldiers who raided a village in Narathiwat province, said police Col. Tanongsak Wangsupa.

Tanongsak said three suspects ran from a house and opened fire on the security force, leading to a five-minute gunbattle.

One suspect was wounded and the other one fled the scene, he said.

Authorities had recently stepped up security fearing attacks around the anniversary of the founding of a separatist group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolution Front. The March 13 anniversary is often marked by violence.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS / March 18, 2008

Edited March 19, 2008 by sriracha john

[sriracha john]

A very unwanted milestone is reached today.....

Three killed in Thai south as Death Toll tops 3,000: Police

Yala - Three people were killed in separatist attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, bringing the death toll from the four-year conflict to more than 3,000, police said Wednesday.

Two militants shot dead a 72-year-old Buddhist grocer at his store in Yala, one of three provinces roiled by violence along the southern border with Malaysia, police said.

The two men fled, but were stopped at a nearby military checkpoint where they were killed in a 10-minute gun fight, they added.

One of the men was identified as Sunawa Yugo, believed to be a leading militant with a 500,000-baht (16,000-dollar) bounty on his head. He was wanted on a national security arrest warrant, police added.

The latest killings brought the toll in the conflict to 3,002 dead, while thousands more have been injured in daily shootings, bombings and arsons across the region, according to police.

- AFP / 3-19-08

[sriracha john]

Seems a once daily tally is no longer sufficient to keep abreast... as there are reports of deaths occuring in the morning and in afternoon at an even more alarming rate...

Update: Clashes claim 4 in the Deep South

Fresh clashes between suspected separatists and authorities Wednesday left four dead in the Deep South. Shortly after dawn, a 72-year-old Buddhist shopkeeper was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in Yala province. Thai soldiers and police gave chase and killed the two suspected separatists in a hail of bullets, said Army regional spokesman Colonel Akkara Thiproj. "One of the slain had a 500,000 baht reward on his head," said Akkara. In another incident in nearby Kopoh district of Pattani, an Army patrol was fired on then they entered the village, sparking a fire fight that left three soldiers wounded and one Muslim militant dead. After more than four years of constant violence in Thailand's majority Muslim southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, the security situation appears to be getting worse no matter what measures the government implements.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=126611

[sriracha john]

Thai south separatist violence toll tops 3000

The death toll from insurgency in Thailand’s Muslim south topped 3000 yesterday, police said, highlighting the government’s failure to stem the unrest after more than four years.

A wave of deadly attacks across the violence-racked south killed five people yesterday alone, as Thailand’s new government struggles to come to grips with the separatist violence that erupted in early 2004 in the region bordering Malaysia.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow, while Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung admitted on Tuesday he had “no idea” how to curb the unrest, which has claimed 3,004 lives.

Srawut Aree, a professor of Muslim studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said the government has made little progress in easing the violence because it has failed to identify any of the militancy’s leadership.

“The problem is the government still cannot recognise the real actors behind violent attacks,” Srawut said. “Militants have never issued statements or claimed responsibility.”

The latest attacks came after the violence took a dramatic turn last weekend when a car bomb exploded outside a luxury hotel that had been considered a safe zone for visiting political and business leaders.

Two people were killed and 13 injured in the blast.

Samak on Tuesday vowed to prioritise resolving the unrest.

- AFP / 3-20-08

[sriracha john]

Shootout at the OK Corral...

2 policemen, 1 suspected insurgent killed in Yala gunfight

Yala - Two policemen and a suspected insurgent were killed in a shoot-out that occurred when the authorities raided a village here to try to arrest suspected insurgents.

The gunfight took place at 10:45 am in Moo 5 village in Tambon Ahsong of Yala's Raman district.

Police from the Raman district police station and soldiers from the Yala Task Force 12 moved in to search the village following a tip-off that some insurgents were hiding there.

While the authorities were conducting the search, an unknown number of insurgents opened fire at them, resulting in a 10-minutes gunfight.

Pol Lance Corporal Supis Ong-in, 28, and Pol Corporal Don Limarn, 27, were severely injured and died at the Raman district hospital.

An unidentified body of a suspect was found at the scene.

- The Nation

[muhammad10280]

In the name of God.

I don't know much about how all this started because I have just moved to this country, but I saw the interview of the PM on aljezeera and found his comments about muslims offensive. He blames it on their "physical" and they fell on each other. I can only pray that he changes his attitude, god willing.

[sriracha john]

In the name of God.

I don't know much about how all this started because I have just moved to this country, but I saw the interview of the PM on aljezeera and found his comments about muslims offensive. He blames it on their "physical" and they fell on each other. I can only pray that he changes his attitude, god willing.

He has changed his attitude.... to one of, "Hey, it's not a big deal.... things are ok there, and getting better every day"....

PM says situation in deep South has improved

Prime Minister and Defence Minister Samak Sundaravej says the situation in the three Southern border provinces has been improved and the government will accelerate projects to develop the economic zones in the deep Southern provinces, including Satun and Songkhla.

The premier said that a meeting between the committee on the special economic zone in the far South has approved projects to resolve problems in the region in line with the government’s urgent policy. These projects include the set up of industrial factories in the three provinces.

The factories are expected to be invested by the private sector, but operated by the military.

In addition, the meeting had resolved to expand the special economic zone to two more provinces in the South, including Satun and Songkhla, to raise the standard of life of the local people.

As for the bomb blast at the S.C. Hotel in Pattani province, the premier says the incident was aimed at prompting the government to send high-ranking officials there.

- ThaiNews (today)

[sriracha john]

PM says situation in deep South has improved

The body of a police officer is draped in a Thai flag as it arrives at a hospital after clashes with militants in Thailand's Yala province. Two policemen and a suspected rebel were killed during a raid on a village on Friday, police said.

REUTERS

Thai field army personnel look at the body of a suspected militant in Thailand's Yala province.

REUTERS

A victim's relatives cry next to the body of an elementary school teacher shot dead by Muslim militants in Yala province. Militants have killed 75 teachers and burned down 297 public school buildings since early 2004, according to a regional educational office in Yala.

AFP

Thai soldiers stand guard in a military vehicle during a patrol in Yala province. Thailand's Interior Minister said he had "no idea" how to curb unrest in the nation's south, as the government announced an emergency meeting following a deadly hotel attack.

AFP

A Thai soldier takes photographs of the wreckage of a car at a parking lot of CS Pattani hotel in Pattani province. A bomb exploded in the parking lot of this hotel, the largest in Thailand's far southern provinces, killing two people and wounding 14 others, police said.

AP

Thai soldiers examine the site after a bomb hidden in a car exploded at a parking lot of the CS Pattani hotel in Pattani province.

AP

[sriracha john]

THAI RATH COMMENT:

PM Samak has no excuse for not visiting the deep South to learn first-hand about the problems there. During last December's election campaign, the People Power Party Leader pledged to bring peace to the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat through reconciliation and understanding. Later, in his policy statement, PM Samak said he would follow His Majesty the King's suggestion that security and development programmes should be based on true understanding of the local people's needs, their way of life, and culture. A month has passed, but the PM has yet to travel to the troubled region, where separatist insurgents continue to perpetrate almost daily acts of terror against ordinary people and security officials. Interior Minister Chalerm visited Songkhla province last week, but did not travel further to the three troubled provinces. He said he could not solve the southern crisis by himself, and needed help and cooperation from all parties concerned. He is right. Everyone, particularly those in politics, must share the same concern for this problem. The PM should be directly in charge of solving the crisis. As head of government, he can order all state agencies to take collective action and work more closely together. And he must visit the people in the

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Mar2008_news016.php