Brutal Militia Stalks South Thailand

[Boater]

In another temple, in another part of southern Thailand, another family mourns the latest victims of one of the world's worst, but least known insurgencies.

Sa, 31, sits with her palms pressed together in prayer as the Buddhist monks chant in unison.

All four of Sa's family members were shot by militants and their homes burned They are performing the nightly ceremony for her mother and father, whose pictures stand by their elaborately decorated coffins, surrounded by flowers.

Sa cremated her grandparents earlier that afternoon. All four of her family members were shot by militants, their homes burned down.

"They are very cruel. They were old and couldn't fight back. These people, this group of terrorists, are not human," she said in a very composed way, keeping her emotions hidden.

They were the last Buddhist family in the Muslim village where they had lived for decades, but their neighbours and friends could not stop the armed militia who came just after dark.

In six years of violence 4,300 people have been killed and 7,000 injured after a dormant separatist movement came to life in the deep south of Thailand on the Malaysian border.

The three modern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala used to be the historic Sultanate of Patani, officially absorbed into Thailand in 1909.

Despite Thailand's policy of unity among its various ethnic groups, many people here see themselves as Malay Muslim, or "Malayu" first and Thai second, speaking a Patani dialect and with a written language using Arabic script.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11437423

[travelmann]

Religion ******************************

[Heng]

On the other side of the coin, the 'good guys' have their militia as well and it's just as "brutal" and much better funded. Probably the only thing keeping the 'other militia' from venturing out of the south much.