Two Laotians Beheaded In Thailand

[george]

Two Laotians beheaded in Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The beheaded bodies of a Laotian couple were found in southern Thailand over the weekend and were believed to be the latest victims of Muslim separatist violence, police said Sunday.

The bodies of Amkha Duangmala, 26, and his wife, Konmanee Duangmala, 25, were found late Saturday in a hut on a chicken farm in Pattani province, said police commander Col. Suchon Ditbuth. Their heads were found early Sunday about 4 miles away.

Police believe Muslim separatists were responsible for the killings but gave no evidence to back up the claim.

Violence in southern Thailand began in early 2004 and has claimed more than 860 lives. Most attacks in the area have been drive-by shootings or bombings, though seven beheadings have also been reported. They include the killings of the Laotian couple and a Thai Buddhist man whose beheaded body was found earlier this month.

Local media have reported that Thai construction laborers are scared to come to work in the region, so companies have turned to foreign workers -- who have also now become targets for the insurgents.

The victims' employer told police that the Laotian couple started working for him about two months ago.

Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces, bordering Malaysia, are the only predominantly Muslim areas in Buddhist-majority Thailand. The region used to be an independent Muslim principality before being annexed by Thailand in 1902. Resentment against the central government gave rise to an armed separatist movement that subsided in the late 1980s after a government amnesty. But resentment persists and southern Muslims complain of discrimination, particularly in jobs and education.

Also on Sunday, a former Thai foreign minister was quoted as criticizing Bangkok's handling of the mounting insurgency in an interview published in the New Sunday Times newspaper in neighboring Malaysia.

Several factors including abuse of power by authorities, the violation of human rights and poverty have fueled the separatist violence, Surin Pitsuwan was quoted as saying. "A lot of candies and goodies are being handed out after the situation has gone wrong. (But) their real grievances are still not being addressed. Violence is still raging. Insecurity is still a fact of life for all sides."

The insurgency was limited in the 1980s to a small group of people who aspired for autonomy, he said, but has since gained traction with a wider segment of the population who hold a number of grievances against the central government.

"The situation has gone too far in the wrong direction in the past four or five years," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "To expect it to return to normal in a short period of time is unrealistic."

--AP 2005-06-20

[TokyoT]

Looks like a case for Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan – maybe then it will become more than an unsubstantiated claim as to what party(ies) are responsible for the crime.

[Kerryd]

Looks like a case for Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan – maybe then it will become more than an unsubstantiated claim as to what party(ies) are responsible for the crime.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Probably find that is was their employer that did it, to avoid having to pay them. Blaming it on the Muslim violence occuring in the same area is a convenient way to cover it up.

Or maybe the seperatists just wanted to whack two inconsequential, immigrant farm workers as a way of showing the government that they mean business ?