Separatist Groups Offer Bounty For Thai Officials

[george]

Separatist groups offer bounty for Thai officials: website

BANGKOK: -- An outlawed Thai separatist group has offered bounties of up to 90,000 baht (2,250 US dollars) for killing governors and senior government officials in the country's violence-hit south, according to its website.

The Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) offered the highest sums for governors in the three Muslim-majority southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani which are at the heart of an insurgency that has left more than 550 people dead this year.

It also offers cash for other governors, deputies, senior police and district officials in the region. The pictures of five governors were posted on the website.

The bounty was offered for two months from November 22, a day before a deputy governor of Pattani -- with a price of 35,000 baht on his head -- was shot and injured while inspecting the scene of another shooting.

The government said it was an accident caused by a member of his security detail but has not identified the gunman.

It plans its own series of "most wanted" posters offering rewards of up to five million baht for the capture, dead or alive, of 30 suspected separatists and their leaders. Posters were to be distributed soon around Thailand's south.

Tensions have risen sharply in the region since the deaths of 87 Muslim protesters on October 25 at Tak Bai in Narathiwat province near the border with Malaysia. Most of them died through suffocation after being piled on the backs of army trucks.

After the tragedy PULO vowed revenge on its website and said Thai cities would "burn", warning visitors to avoid key tourist destinations.

The Thai premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, dismissed the threat from PULO. "It's ordinary. They are barking all day long," he told reporters in Bangkok.

In the latest southern attack, a Muslim teacher was gunned down by attackers who followed him on a motorbike after he left his school in Yala province, police said.

Ma-ae Hayidaning, 51, died instantly in the attack. Most of those killed in the south during the last month have been Buddhists in apparent revenge attacks for the Tak Bai tragedy.

Concern over the unrest in southern Thailand is expected to be a dominant issue when Thaksin and other Asia-Pacific leaders meet in Laos next Monday and Tuesday. Thaksin has warned he will walk out if leaders raise the Tak Bai case.

- AFP 2004-11-26

[Nam Kao]

I am surprised they have not started kidnapping tourists/westerers yet.

This would hurt Thailand and the Thai govt the most.

They love doing this in other countries for Jihad.

[Backpack_thailand]

I am surprised they have not started kidnapping tourists/westerers yet.

  This would hurt Thailand and the Thai govt the most. 

  They love doing this in other countries for Jihad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've just got back from the deep south (Narathiwat) and had a good conversation with a couple of local guys.

The tourist/westerners threat is VERY real! Sitting outside a cafe waiting for a bus to Hat Yai, the owner dragged me inside for my own safety!

Won't be going back to KB for visas for a while - buggar that!

[chingy_]

PULO vowed revenge on its website and said Thai cities would "burn",

i think this is pushing to far, so what they are saying is that they are not thai.

[Backpack_thailand]

PULO vowed revenge on its website and said Thai cities would "burn",

i think this is pushing to far, so what they are saying is that they are not thai.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Muslims in Thailand have not considered themselves "Thai" since the year dot!

You are either "Muslim" or "Thai People"...

[thaibebop]

This may be a stupid ? but if Thailand is so bad why don't the move? Just south of them is a country full of Muslims. Or do they want Thais to stop being Buddist?

[Backpack_thailand]

This may be a stupid ? but if Thailand is so bad why don't the move? Just south of them is a country full of Muslims. Or do they want Thais to stop being Buddist?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sadly, it's developed into the whole "We want independence" bit! Similar to Taiwan, Palestine etc. etc.

It's a case of looking back over God knows how many years and finally getting pissed off with Thailand for taking this region in the first place.

As you say, why not just join Malaysia. Oh no my friends, that would far too easy and couldn't justify the mindless violence. These people just need a reason to fight, they're notinterested in solutions!

The three southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala are the main focus, but expect Songkhla (Hat Yai) and Satun to jump on board soon.