Bomb Kills Nine In Thai South: Police

[webfact]

Bomb kills nine in Thai south: police

YALA, January 25, 2011 (AFP) - A bomb struck restive southern Thailand on Tuesday killing nine villagers and injuring another two, police said, in the latest violence to hit the insurgency-wracked region.

The roadside device exploded at around 5:30 pm (1030 GMT) in a village in Yala province, police told AFP, with all the victims thought to be Buddhists returning home from work.

Shadowy Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in Thailand's southernmost region bordering Malaysia since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, including both Muslims and Buddhists.

Thailand extended emergency rule last week in most of the Muslim-majority region for another three months, despite rights groups' concerns about the powers given to the military.

Three Muslim civilians, including a married couple, were shot dead by an unknown gunman in the same area on January 21, according to police.

This followed an unusually brazen attack by armed rebels on a Thai military base in Narathiwat last week, killing at least four soldiers and wounding several more.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-01-25

[Scott]

Very sad. Thailand doesn't need this situation heating up right now.

[webfact]

9 killed, 2 injured in Yala bomb attack

Yala - Nine villagers were killed and two others injured when insurgents detonated a roadside homemade bomb to attack their truck, police said.

The attack occurred at 5:30 pm on a village road in Padaeru village in Tambon Katong of Yaha district.

The villagers were on their way to a forest to collect forest products.

Nine were killed at the scene, police said.

-- The Nation 2011-01-25

[webfact]

Bomb kills 8 people, wounds 2 others in Yala

YALA, Jan 25 - A bomb explosion on Tuesday killed eight people, and wounded two others in the southern province of Yala.

The pickup truck was carrying ten villagers back from collecting forest products in Yaha district when a suspected insurgent triggered the bomb using a mobile phone, killing eight passengers in the vehicle immediately.

The police gathered evidence at the scene to track the culprit.

The government extended the state of emergency in Thailand's three southernmost insurgency-plagued provinces for another three months on Jan 18.

The extension is the 22nd since the law was introduced in mid-2005 to restore peace in the southern border region.

The special law facilitates the operations of security agencies and allows them to detain suspected insurgents for an initial period of 30 days.

Earlier, the long-standing emergency decree and martial law were lifted in Pattani's Mae Lan district Dec 28 as a pilot move to scale down security in the southernmost provinces, a move which would eventually lead to the lifting of the special law in other areas of the three provinces.

The emergency decree has been replaced by the Internal Security Act. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-01-25

[thailandbluegrass]

When is this crap gonna stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does the government not want to do anything or are they afraid. Bout time the International Humanitary Foundations get involved. I don't get heated up to much but with all these poor inocent people dying (especially Buddhists who won't retaliate) I have one word that comes to mind...................................Naphom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bangon04]

When is this crap gonna stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does the government not want to do anything or are they afraid. Bout time the International Humanitary Foundations get involved. I don't get heated up to much but with all these poor inocent people dying (especially Buddhists who won't retaliate) I have one word that comes to mind...................................Naphom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that the name of a town near Yala?

Anyway another bomb will serve to justify the continuation of the emergency security provisions.

Edited January 25, 2011 by bangon04

[jayjay0]

Rights groups as usual sticking up for the guilty and ignoring the innocent

"despite rights groups' concerns about the powers given to the military."

Maybe some of the problem is the lack of power being given to the Army.

They could do a lot more with out resorting to Thaksin style tactics.

[anon10]

All financed by those lovely Tuk Tuk and Taxi mafia from Phuket...the Muslim part I mean...

[earthpig]

Terror based insurgencies have historically only been brought to an end when the government finds a way to co-opt--often thru bribery--some insurgent groups and leaders, and terrorizes the rest. these days, the latter policy implies a big hit with public, and especially foreign public, opinion.

george bush cared less what the world thought of him and so got the job done in iraq. but the current thai government has to think a great deal what the world thinks of it and so is hamstrung.

the southern insurgency ends when either the government capitulates and allows the southern provinces to seceede, or when it gets serious and kills tens of thousands using tactics it practiced in tak bai.

neither outcome appears likely soon.

[webfact]

Bombers linked to slain separatist fighter: officials

By The Nation

Suspected insurgents who carried out a roadside bomb attack that killed nine villagers in Yala on Monday have links to Mahama Mara, a high-profile suspect killed two years ago, security officials say.

One of the suspects, Saudi Satapor, 30, is a leading insurgent already wanted on four arrest warrants, officials said. He is believed to have carried out terror attacks in Katong and Baroh subdistricts in Yaha district, and to operate under the direct command of Hubai Delah Rohmueli, a high-profile insurgent commander on the run.

Saudi was close to Mahama Mara, a senior Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) commander killed two years ago in a gunfight in Kabang district. Mahama was behind frequent terror attacks and the murders of many people, including the notorious hijacking of a passenger van and killing of all eight occupants in March 2007, the officials said.

One senior police commander, Colonel Phoomphet Phiphatphetphoom, said he suspected Monday's roadside bomb attack was specifically aimed at this group of villagers. The group were poachers who had fought with local insurgents in gunfights before, he said.

The bombing could have been a revenge attack. The poachers may have been the people who tipped off security officials about the whereabouts of Mahama, leading to his death in a gunfight two years ago, Phoomphet said.

Sakchai Siriphan, a teacher and the only survivor of the roadside blast, said it was a different group who had fought with the insurgents. He said the people hit by the blast were ordinary villagers, many of whom were his friends.

The Yala provincial authorities called on villagers or poachers who planned to go to the jungle to hunt or forage to contact security officials to arrange protection.

Police yesterday raided a house, arresting two men identified as Sufwan Sahleh and Karim Bueraheng. The pair were allegedly in possession of a roadside bomb that was ready to use.

The house is located three kilometres from the base of the 1521st Infantry Company, which was attacked last week in a raid that killed four soldiers.

The pair are being questioned to determine whether they were involved in that attack.

In a separate incident yesterday, a civil defence volunteer was shot with a handgun in an attack by two men on a motorcycle. The victim took three bullets in the leg and stomach and is in critical condition.

-- The Nation 2011-01-27