Bomb Blasts Injure 60 In Thailand

[george]

Bomb blasts injure 60 in Thailand

NARATHIWAT: -- At least two bomb blasts have injured more than 60 people in a restive state of southern Thailand, police say.

The twin explosions struck near a local government office and a teashop in the state of Narathiwat, AFP news agency quoted local police as saying.

Police said suspected separatist insurgents were behind the attacks.

Narathiwat is one of the states worst affected by an insurgency in Thailand's Muslim majority south that has killed more than 2,700 people since 2004.

-- BBC 2008-11-04

Urgent: 60 injured in two Narathiwat bomb blasts

NARATHIWAT: -- Two simultaneous bomb blasts went off in a local government office and a teashop Tuesday, injuring about 60 people in the southernmost province of Narathiwat, police said.

It was not clear if any of the injured has succumbed to death as authorities worked through the wreckage.

Police said they believed the twin explosions were set off remotely by suspected insurgents.

-- The Nation 2008-11-04

[Moonrakers]

Bad news, they must have been quite large bombs.

Yet things are improving in the south, aren't they Somchai?

[BSJ]

One can only hope that none where serious injuries.

[Losangels]

Yet things are improving in the south, aren't they Somchai?

The south is not even in his radar, probably think they deserve it

[Jai Dee]

More than 60 injured in twin bombs

Two simultaneous bomb blasts went off in a local government office and a local teashop Tuesday, injuring more than 60 people in the southernmost province of Narathiwat, police said.

Vice governor of Narathiwat, Niphan Naraphitakkul, said one bomb was hidden near the meeting venue where kamnans, village chiefs and local officials from Sukirin district were gathering for their monthly meeting.

It went off as the officers were leaving the meeting hall and heading to their personal vehicles, said Niphan.

The bomb may have been hidden in one of the participants' vehicle or placed near the vicinity of the crime scene.

The second bomb went off simultaneously at a teashop nearby.

It was not clear if any of the injured from the two incidents has succumbed to death. Victims were rushed to hospitals in Sungai Kolok and Sukirin districts of Narathiwat.

It appeared that the culprits had a clear site of the target as the bomb went off just moments after the meeting had concluded and the officers were heading to their personal vehicles, officials said.

Source: The Nation - 04 November 2008

[sriracha john]

Bad news, they must have been quite large bombs.

Yet things are improving in the south, aren't they Somchai?

amongst his other strangeness-es.... Somchai does have a strange assessment of the Deep South following a previous bombing....

and now that the Prime Minister has finished his first trip to the Deep South to do something...

Bombing at Yala government unit, wounds 2 soldiers, 7 residents

The attack took place one day after Prime Minsiter Somchai Wongsawat paid his first visit to the southernmost provinces since taking office September. After the visit, Somchai affirmed the government’s policy to tackle violence was on the right track. :D

He said the government was paying close attention to the problems in the southern region

8 injured in Yala bombing

Somchai told reporters that the security situation has been improving and downplayed the need for structural reform for the Malay-speaking South.

Edited November 4, 2008 by sriracha john

[Jai Dee]

Two explosions in Thailand's deep South kill one, injure 71

Suspected separatists detonated two bombs in the violence-wracked province of Narathiwat on Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring 71 other people, police and hospital sources said. The two separate bombs, planted in motorcycles, exploded outside a district office and a fruit market shortly after 11 am (0400 GMT) in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat province, 850 kilometres south of Bangkok, near the Thai-Malaysian border.

The explosion took place while village leaders from the area where about to enter the Sukhirin district office for a meeting, police said.

One woman was killed in the explosion. Of the 71 wounded, 30 were hospitalized with serious injuries, hospital sources said.

Acts of political violence in Thailand's majority-Muslim Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, which border Malaysia, have claimed more than 2,700 lives over the past four years.

The three provinces comprised the independent Islamic sultanate of Pattani more than 200 years ago before it fell under Bangkok's rule. More than 80 per cent of the three provinces' 2 million people are Muslim, making the region an anomaly in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

A separatist struggle has simmered in the area for decades but took a more violent turn in January 2004 when Muslim militants attacked an army depot and stole 300 weapons, prompting a crackdown that further inflamed the local population against the government.

Source: DPA - 04 November 2008

[animatic]

Yet things are improving in the south, aren't they Somchai?

The south is not even in his radar, probably think they deserve it

He actualy is from the south, Nakpon Si Thamarat.

No doubt he is not 'authorized' to change policy down there...

To much face to be lost,

and not enough TRT / PPP non-Democratic voters there,

to EVER get serious change from the current crew.

[Scott]

More sad news. It's been on CNN and was reported, not just on the ticker. I understand some of those injured are in serious condition. I hope someone keeps us updated.

One of the problems with the southern situation is that when there is an incident, it's reported and that's usually about it. No follow up. The exception being the teacher and a few high level officials. A lot of people are seriously injured, families are destroyed and lives ruined--but little reporting on this.

[AlKing]

Too many durg loads down south.

[Scott]

drug loads????

[TAWP]

The amount of injured and the low (thankfully) number of killed (none as of this writing) makes me think they have been trained to build 'better' bombs than their normal over-loaded bombs with a fairly high amount of explosives but limited range of effect. The high number tells me that they had a fairly high number of tightly packed metal objects to be used as shrapnel (metal pellets, spikes, screws all works) which increases the effect of 'reaching out and hurting people' without having to increase the amount of explosive. As a comparison, check the difference between the WW2 'potato masher' (German) hand grenade and modern pre-spliced ones used in the West.

[londonthai]

drug loads????

drug lords

I have heard about it before, might be something in it

[Musti]

I'm visiting soon. Hope I'm not targeted because I look (am) Arab. Guh I have no idea why they do these stupid bombings.

[PoorSucker]

I'm visiting soon. Hope I'm not targeted because I look (am) Arab. Guh I have no idea why they do these stupid bombings.

Ethnic cleansing.

[Scott]

The situation in the South has little to do with Arabs. You shouldn't face much discrimination based on this here--some, but not much. I hope you have a good time while your here, by the way.

As for the drug lords--I've heard this before as well. It's probably a chicken and an egg sort of thing. I am sure there is drug money involved in funding the insurgency. Also, when there is a lack of legal oversight, the drug trade tends to move in. A third consideration is that a whole lot of people like drugs.

Drug traffickers tend to very opportunistic. Places like the south provide a good opportunity.

[Moonrakers]

I am failing to find the connection between drugs and these bombings.

I am not trying to refute that drugs are prevalent there, but are people trying to suggest that these bombings where drug related and not insurgent related. If not then what is the link?

Edited November 4, 2008 by globalj

[Scott]

I don't know what the original person who posted about the topic was insinuating, but I very, very much doubt that the bombings are drug related. They are related to the insurgency.

My point was that it's not uncommon to find the drug trade flourishing in areas such as the south because of the lack of law enforcement (or emphasis on the drug traffickers). Secondly, this is an easy and convenient way to fund the insurgency. It's a lucrative business, it's a cash business and it deals with money that's hard to trace.

One is causing the other or vice versa; they just work well together.

[sriracha john]

The amount of injured and the low (thankfully) number of killed (none as of this writing) makes me think they have been trained to build 'better' bombs than their normal over-loaded bombs with a fairly high amount of explosives but limited range of effect. The high number tells me that they had a fairly high number of tightly packed metal objects to be used as shrapnel (metal pellets, spikes, screws all works) which increases the effect of 'reaching out and hurting people' without having to increase the amount of explosive. As a comparison, check the difference between the WW2 'potato masher' (German) hand grenade and modern pre-spliced ones used in the West.

there's been a death and the number injured has increased...

some of today's carnage...

Reuters

Associated Press

2 Bombs in Southern Thailand Wound 71, Kill 1

Suspected Muslim insurgents detonated two bombs at a tea stall and shopping area Tuesday in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand, killing one person and wounding at least 71, police said.

It was the largest attack in several months in Thailand's restive south, which has been gripped by a Muslim insurgency since 2004.

The first blast appeared to target a meeting of 300 village chiefs and local officials from Narathiwat province who were leaving their monthly meeting when the explosion occurred in the building's parking lot, said police chief Maj. Gen. Surachai Suebsuk. The bomb was hidden inside a parked car.

The building in Sukhirin district also housed an indoor fruit market that was busy with shoppers when the blast occurred about noon, at the start of the normally crowded lunch hour, he said.

"The insurgents aimed to kill," Surachai said. "Most of the wounded were civilian officials who were leaving the meeting and heading for their cars."

Minutes later, a second bomb hidden in a motorcycle went off outside a nearby tea shop, Surachai said. The police chief had initially said that three bombs exploded but then said the last blast was caused by an exploding tire, not a bomb.

Cell phone signals were cut off in the area to prevent attackers from triggering new explosions by mobile phone, he said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts.

Violence in the south is usually blamed on Muslim insurgents. The southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani have been terrorized by regular attacks since early 2004, when a separatist movement flared after a lull of more than two decades.

Attacks generally take the form of drive-by shootings and small-scale bombings intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the area. Suspected insurgents mainly target people seen as collaborating with the government, including soldiers, police, informants and civilians.

On Aug. 21, two bombs in Narathiwat killed two people and wounded 30. The two fatalities were a Thai reporter and a rescue worker responding to the first attack when a second explosion went off.

- Associated Press / 2008-11-04

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

Reuters reported the injured number is 73.

Edited November 4, 2008 by sriracha john

[Moonrakers]

I don't know what the original person who posted about the topic was insinuating, but I very, very much doubt that the bombings are drug related. They are related to the insurgency.

My point was that it's not uncommon to find the drug trade flourishing in areas such as the south because of the lack of law enforcement (or emphasis on the drug traffickers). Secondly, this is an easy and convenient way to fund the insurgency. It's a lucrative business, it's a cash business and it deals with money that's hard to trace.

One is causing the other or vice versa; they just work well together.

I see now, I normally have the poster of the below quote on my ignore list.

Too many durg loads down south.

And? What does drugs have to do with it?

No need to reply because I have opted to 'ignore' your posts (dam_n the irony of this post of mine). Please do not disrupt a thread to the point that I have to 'un-ignore' you again.

[sriracha john]

One killed, 70 injured in three Narathiwat bomb blasts

NARATHIWAT, Nov 4 (TNA) - A female village head was killed and more than 70 others were injured in three midday bombings Tuesday near a district office in the insurgency-plagued province of Narathiwat.

The remote-controlled bombs went off simultaneously at an open air fruit market and a tea shop near the Sukhirin district office, where about 300 local officials, civil servants of varied levels, were attending a monthly meeting.

The dead woman, identified as Amporn Pui, was a village head in Sukhirin district, one of hundreds of local village and sub-district heads and civil servants who were leaving the meeting.

The bombings appeared to be aimed at the participants.

It was the largest attack in months in the Muslim-majority South, occurring a week after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat visited the region where more than 3,500 people have been killed since violence erupted anew in early 2004.

Among the wounded, 12 sustained serious injuries and are hospitalised. Three cars were destroyed while a number of other vehicles were damaged.

The first bomb was detonated by a mobile phone at fresh market near the the district office entrance.

Police estimated that the primary 50-kilogramme bomb was hidden in a car, which was engulfed in flames after the explosion.

Shortly after the first explosion, the second bomb went off at a tea shop nearby the district office, and a third bomb was planted into a motorcycle and was detonated near the tea shop, possibly intentionally targeting those who were fleeing the scene of the first two explosions.

Emergency workers are tending to the wounded, while police gathered evidence at the site, including fragments of mobile telephone SIM cards.

Speaking after a meeting with concerned authorities to tackle violence in the far South, the premier, who is concurrently defence minister, conceded that the incident was one of the main acts of violence yet to take place in the region.

[WISteve]

The bombers are getting smart and targeting the survivors and the rescue workers.

Very sad thing for Thailand and addressing the insurgency should be a priority to save lives.

Combine these with the political unrest and economic issues facing Thailand it would be a challenge for even an efficient government.

Is there any hope of compromise or reconciliation in the South?

~WISteve

[buddy]

I'm visiting soon. Hope I'm not targeted because I look (am) Arab. Guh I have no idea why they do these stupid bombings.

Dear Musti,

In one word - RELIGION.

Underlying 90% of ALL human conflict on this Earth now is the curse of Religion, take Religion out of the equation and the perpetrators generaly do not have the motivation to behave the way they do!

[Seneque]

If we (us and all the 'who it may concern') could spend more time taking care of Thailand and its social / racial / economic problems and STOP caring / talking about the fate of one specific 'fleeing the scene' criminal ... perhaps we could ease the tension in the south, help tourism back and free the mind of most people.

[Jai Dee]

Car bomb hits officials in deep South

Suspected insurgents, blending in with some 300 village headmen and officials, set off a car bomb near the venue of a monthly meeting in Sukhirin district yesterday.

Seventy people were hurt in an attack police said was meant to inflict maximum damage.

At least 12 of the victims were in critical condition. A woman had been reported as dying from the explosion, but authorities said she was still fighting for her life at Sukhirin Hospital.

The homemade explosive was packed inside a fire extinguisher weighing about 50 kilograms and placed inside a sedan parked alongside the personal vehicles of officials attending the meeting.

Minutes later, a second bomb tied to a motorbike was detonated near a teashop. A third blast was heard soon after, but it was an exploding tyre, not a bomb.

Vice governor Niphan Naraphitakkul said the first bomb was aimed at some 300 officials as they were walking to their vehicles.

The victims were taken to hospitals in Sungai Kolok and Sukhirin, with about 30 in serious condition, a hospital source said.

Sukhirin chief Worachet Promopart said violent incidents were rare in his district, compared to other areas in the Muslimmajority border area.

"We had received briefings from intelligence officials warning about attacks on government installations in Muang district but they said nothฌing about Sukirin," he said.

Human Rights Watch's Sunai Phasuk said the fact that insurgents employed powerful explosions to take out relatively lowprofile targets in a district that is quite remote suggests a titfortat between the local militant cell and security officials in the area.

"It was in response to something specific," he said. "If anything, this was a strong statement to the security apparatus."

Assoc Professor Srisompob Jitpiromya, director of the Deep South Watch centre at the Prince of Songkhla University Pattani, said that since January 2004, this wave of insurgency attacks had left 3,200 dead and 5,226 injured in the Malayspeaking southernmost provinces.

He said the government had become complacent over this past year as rebel attacks became more intermittent. However, the level of uncertainty and insecurity was still very high.

"The problem with the government is that it doesn't treat the insurgency in the deep South as a conflict but as an issue of law and order that can be handled by the military alone," he said.

Source: The Nation - 05 November 2008

[londonthai]

the story what I have heard from thai, back when the insurgency started some 8 years ago, that the ousted by Taxin political elites had their background in the south and they were drug sponsored.

religion is only used as a smokescreen and as a tool to motivate brainwashed mujaheddins to blow themselves up - the whole story is about money and control over economic resources and not about independence or religious oppression.

[TAWP]

That's a nice conspiracy theory...however, it's a theory at best. An substantiated rumor or fantasy more likely.