Nine Killed In Two Days Of Attacks In Thai South

[webfact]

Nine killed in two days of attacks in Thai south: police

NARATHIWAT (AFP) -- Nine people, including six military personnel, have been killed in two days of bomb and gun attacks in Thailand's insurgency-plagued southern provinces, police said Friday.

A roadside bomb late Thursday killed three military rangers on patrol in Ruso district in Narathiwat, one of three troubled Muslim-majority provinces near the Malaysian border.

A security volunteer and a deputy village headman travelling with them also died in the attack by suspected Islamist separatists, police said.

The bomb, containing about 20 kilos (45 pounds) of explosives, was buried in a dirt road and detonated by wire. The attackers then opened fire on the vehicle and seized weapons before fleeing the scene.

In a separate incident, three soldiers were killed when a bomb blast ripped through their patrol vehicle Friday in neighbouring Yala province, police said.

A 46-year-old Muslim village leader also died on the way to hospital after she was shot Friday in a drive-by shooting in Mayo district in Pattani province, police said.

They said her son, a security volunteer, had been shot dead two months ago.

More than 4,100 people -- both Buddhists and Muslims -- have been killed in the region in six years of attacks led by a shadowy mix of Islamist and separatist militants.

The rebels have targeted both Buddhists and Muslims with shootings, bombings and gruesome methods such as beheadings and crucifixions.

The Muslim-majority region was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until it was annexed in 1902 by mainly Buddhist Thailand and tensions have simmered there ever since, flaring up into the current insurgency in January 2004.

Successive governments have struggled to contain the unrest in the area, where there is a heavy military presence and emergency rule has been imposed for nearly five years, giving the army broad powers.

Rights groups have warned that alleged abuses by the security forces in the region risk stoking the unrest.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, separatist militants appear to have stepped up their attacks in retaliation for the death in "suspicious circumstances" of a 25-year-old suspected insurgent in May.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-07-02

[nakachalet]

webcat and other admin

you guys ought to improve your posting in reference to the southern cities in thailand

particularly, when posting terrifying info as above

perhaps, all admin posting such related items should just name those cities involved.... rather than saying in the south....

we live in the south.... trung and hadyai and others in between.... for over 40 yrs now....

PLS DO BE SPECIFIC NAMING SPECIFIC CITIES, so other farangs would not be too terrified to visit us.... dwellers in purt-ta-lung, trung, hatyai, sar-daow and numerous other SOUTHERN peaceful cities...

thx much for all your considerations....:jap: IT IS NOT ASKING TOO MUCH, IS IT?

[nakachalet]

webcat and other admin

you guys ought to improve your posting in reference to the southern cities in thailand

particularly, when posting terrifying info as above

perhaps, all admin posting such related items should just name those cities involved.... rather than saying in the south....

we live in the south.... trung and hadyai and others in between.... for over 40 yrs now....

PLS DO BE SPECIFIC NAMING SPECIFIC CITIES, so other farangs would not be too terrified to visit us.... dwellers in purt-ta-lung, trung, hatyai, sar-daow and numerous other SOUTHERN peaceful cities...

thx much for all your considerations....:jap: IT IS NOT ASKING TOO MUCH, IS IT?

UP TO AND UNTIL chuan's premiership.... southern part of thailand has been ever peaceful ....

it is when tucksin became thailand's premier and began his extension of power to the muslim population UNFAIRLY AND UNJUSTLY AND UNCONSTITUTIONALLY that certain selected groups of muslim became very angry, unruly.... and explosively.... we won't know the shame, humility and pains suffered by so many of our muslim brothers and sisters in the south....

i am not condoning the violence, but just thought that some brief historical facts might help many to better understand the situations in the part-ta-nee, ya-la, nar-ra-thi-wart et al areas.... most of them have been totally ignored and worse yet badly and shamefully treated by the authorities....

i can also assure everyone that these muslim population are not seeking annexation either.... :jap: :jap: :jap:

life with dignity.... is really not too much to ask either.... is it?

Edited July 2, 2010 by nakachalet

[sungod]

'Ruso district in Narathiwat' and 'Mayo district in Pattani'cleary named mate, what other info would you like?