Bomb Wrecks Thai Police Residence Complex

[webfact]

SOUTHERN UNREST

Bomb wrecks police residence complex

By The Nation

Five injured amid widespread property damage

A car bomb exploded in a police-residence complex in Narathiwat's Si Sakhon district yesterday, wounding five people and causing widespread property damage.

Seconds before the blast, two insurgents who parked the explosives-laden Toyota Vigo pickup at the scene threw a grenade at a group of policemen who were about to pursue them. The bomb was detonated remotely by mobile phone, probably by a group of insurgents hiding nearby.

The blast damaged 18 vehicles and caused a fire that left a block of flats structurally damaged. It destroyed the tap-water mains and power systems of the flats.

An estimated 50 kilograms of explosives, contained in a cooking-gas cylinder, detonated in a vast cloud of debris that shattered windows of many houses in the vicinity.

District chief Phairoj Jarit-ngarm said security had been heightened at all government premises after intelligence warnings. "But we didn't expect them to attack a police residence [complex]," he said.

Army commander General Prayuth Jan-ocha said insurgent terrorist attacks would continue and intensify in response to frequent security offensives and proactive measures to undermine insurgents' operations, including a pardon scheme that was attracting more and more active insurgents.

The general said security officials were now escorting monks and teachers more heavily after a tip-off that they were now prime targets. He called on civilians not to stay away from security officials for fear of becoming targets, saying that they should be safer when there were policemen and soldiers present.

Countering media criticism of frequent attacks targeting monks or Buddhists, Prayuth said the military was working harder, both openly and under cover, and had successfully foiled 27 terrorist plans, while only three had occurred in recent months.

The Army commander said he agreed with a policy of monks not pursuing their morning walks to receive alms, and would like to see it extended. A final decision will soon be made jointly with the National Buddhism Office.

He said it was safer for all parties involved - security officials, Buddhists, alms givers and the monks themselves - if the monks stayed in their temples where people could visit them.

Meanwhile, a rubber tapper was shot dead in Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng district yesterday by two men on a motorcycle. Sakhon Bunsom had converted to Islam after marrying a local woman. Police are trying to determine whether his murder was insurgency-related.

-- The Nation 2011-03-08

[Colabamumbai]

Unfortunately the problem in the South does not seem to go away. Would political talks be a waste of time? Could civil war on a larger scale take place in the future? <br>

[rreddin]

Unfortunately the problem in the South does not seem to go away. Would political talks be a waste of time? Could civil war on a larger scale take place in the future?<br>

Political talks would not be a waste of time if all parties were willing to have genuine engagement. The Govt, while paying lip service to diplomacy, is trying to resolve this problem by military means. The so called "insurgents" are not willing to engage in meaningful dialogue either.

It is a political problem that can only be resolved through political means. The involvement of moderate Islamic states might be helpful in the search for a political settlement. Based on no evidence whatsoever, I believe Abhisit has tested the waters only to find there are preconditions the Thai Govt is either unable or unwilling to meet.

[asiawatcher]

Diplomacy does not work with terrorists. There is no remorse, guilt or integration open to these people. No government globally will negotiate with terrorists so why seek a diplomatic means of resolution? They only understand, due to the teachings they receive, they are at a war, a 'holy' war (they call it). So live by the sword die by it. No skin off our noses but the killings require culling out those who propagate the teachings and remove them as a threat to society.

You could of course bring in black ops and remove the threat by sending the bodies of those terrorists killed, back to their villages wrapped in pig skins. That will cause a major back down and fairly easy to achieve.