Things Are Ratcheting Up In The South

[sriracha john]

The Hat Yai bombings raised the stakes and now a beheading conducted in public in full view of witnesses in the middle of day is raising it further...

-BBC-

Man beheaded in Thailand teashop

Suspected Muslim militants have beheaded a man in southern Thailand in front of customers in a teashop.

Police said the man, a travelling salesman, was shot twice and then decapitated in the shop in Narathiwat province, in the middle of the day.

It was the fifth beheading in just over two weeks, and is thought to be the first carried out so publicly.

The Thai south has been hit by violence since suspected Muslim separatists launched an insurgency 18 months ago.

The latest victim, Lek Pongpa, was a clothes vendor originally from northern Thailand, police said.

His attacker carried off his severed head by motorbike before dumping it by the roadside in Joh Irong, about 2km (1.2 miles) .

Police Lieutenant Panongsak Wangsupa told the BBC Thai service that witnesses were unwilling to give any information.

Eight bodies have been beheaded since the upsurge in violence began.

Several have been found with notes claiming the attacks were carried out in revenge for repression by the Thai authorities.

People living in Thailand's Muslim majority south have long complained of discrimination by the central government, particularly in areas like education.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has in recent months pledged that his government would tone down its hardline stance on the issue.

But there continues to be almost daily murders in the area, and the death toll in the last 18 months has passed 700.

[Tornado]

I also heard a bomb went off in Pattani the other day and three Muslim clerics were murdered/killed - what and who to believe??

[greenwanderer108]

Well, they aren't releasing video tapes yet are they like Zaq...whatever his name is, if it is even him who responsible for the iraq (done by syrians) beheadings over the past year.

Is this real? How many confirmed beheadings in the last few weeks exactly? My Thai friends seem to have only heard of two...the Lao and someone else...

wow

In my empathetic way of accepting accepting such live coverage of such downloaded executions, I wonder what would be the best thing to go out before your head is cut off live...

I figure, unlike that old English dude, what was his name, Keneth Brigley or something, instead of begging a government that doesn't have your interests in mind to give in to to these other animals, it would be best to go out cursing everyone giving a promise that your soul would be back to make the rest of whoevers life miserable...atleast play off of the guy with the knife's psychology making his deed worth it in his end...

GWB, Bush Sr., Blair, Prescot Bush, Hitler, etc. Zaqwagi, or whatever war hungry fugernut, I regret less and less from leaving my homeland of world domination hungry freaks at the top. It kind of makes those victims of Tsunami's and other natural causes sound enviable...

[ace]

...and three Muslim clerics were murdered/killed - what and who to believe??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is a point missed by most commentators. There are actually more Muslim Thais being murdered than Buddhist Thais. Either way, they're all people and it is a tragic situation largely caused by the state. Why, I don't know.

[opothai]

i am by no means a racist

i do believe in when in rome etc etc

what really makes me angry is when people come to the country i am living in and moan and try to change the ideals of people that have lived ther harmouneously for decades.

if people want and believe in any particular religion do not go to another country that does not want to hear any particular rantings they have

live and let live

before any do gooders say it is a free world and people should have the right to say what ever they want, i agree, but do it in a country where their belief is in the majority and not the minority

FACT

the biggest cause of conflict throughout history has been religion, why do some try to impose on others their belief with force and violence. this i will never understand and i am truly sad for tommorow

[sriracha john]

I also heard a bomb went off in Pattani the other day and three Muslim clerics were murdered/killed - what and who to believe??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Published on Jun 24, 2005

Four bombs exploded simultaneously yesterday morning at government buildings in four districts in this strife-torn southern province.

Mobile phones were used to trigger the home-made bombs at 10.55am.

Excluding yesterday’s blasts, suspected militants have carried out 111 bomb attacks since January, including 48 mobile-phone detonations, security officials said in a report.

Commenting on the spate of Buddhist beheadings in the region, Muslim Youths Association chairman Mimanase Sama-ali said insurgents wanted to increase the climate of fear in the deep South.

“Beheadings are a step up from arson and shooting attacks, and local residents from all religious faiths are the real victims for being forced to live in fear and amongst such horror,” he said. Mimanase said he suspected the attacks were inspired by beheadings overseas.

[chownah]

i am by no means a racist

i do believe in when in rome etc etc

what really makes me angry is when people come to the country i am living in and moan and try to change the ideals of people that have lived ther harmouneously for decades.

if people want and believe in any particular religion do not go to another country that does not want to hear any particular rantings they have

live and let live

before any do gooders say it is a free world and people should have the right to say what ever they want, i agree, but do it in a country where their belief is in the majority and not the minority

FACT

the biggest cause of conflict throughout history has been religion, why do some try to impose on others their belief with force and violence. this i will never understand and i am truly sad for tommorow

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where did you get this FACT?

[sriracha john]

todayonline.com reports the government solution:

Thailand plans to declare "violent zones" in Muslim southern provinces where security forces will seek to hunt down and kill Islamic insurgents blamed for a surge of deadly attacks, the defense minister said.

[sriracha john]

More of the same beheadings... although this time not completed:

Two Thai Rubber Workers' Throats Slashed

Friday June 24, 11:16 PM

AP

Attackers in southern Thailand slashed the necks of a couple, almost severing their heads in the latest killings attributed to Islamic separatists in the region, police said Friday.

The couple, Jad Suwanchatri, 52, and his wife, Serm, 51, had stopped their motorcycle to clear a log from a road in Yala province when assailants shot Jad and then cut the throats of the couple, police Lt. Somporn Ritthirat said Friday.

The couple's dog, which was in a sidecar, also was slashed to death, he said. The couple were rubber plantation workers, Buddhists and members of a local defense militia.

Drive-by shootings and bombings have claimed the lives of more than 880 people since January 2004 in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, which are dominated by Muslims in this overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

Also Friday, two unidentified gunmen shot and killed Kobkua Ransaewa, a school principal in Narathiwat province, while she was riding a motorcycle away from the school at lunchtime.

[sonnyJ]

Drive-by shootings and bombings have claimed the lives of more than 880 people since January 2004 in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, which are dominated by Muslims in this overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What about the actions taken by Thai police/military/government, or maybe it's all same.

How many lives have they taken there?

Anybody can give any facts for this?

[sriracha john]

Drive-by shootings and bombings have claimed the lives of more than 880 people since January 2004 in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, which are dominated by Muslims in this overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What about the actions taken by Thai police/military/government, or maybe it's all same.

How many lives have they taken there?

Anybody can give any facts for this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fairly certain they are not included in the 880 tally, but the Army killed 31 at the Krue Se Mosque and suffocated another 78 to death in the Tak Bai crackdown.