Phuket Could Be Next: Terrorism Expert

[george]

Interview:

PHUKET COULD BE NEXT: TERRORISM EXPERT

As authorities continue investigating who was responsible for carrying out last weekend's Bali suicide attacks, an expert on Asian terrorism networks believes the bombers were most likely trained in the southern Philippines.

Dr Zachary Abuza says for practical reasons, Jemaah Islamiah has formed strong ties with terrorist groups that control much of the Philippines island of Mindanao.

Dr Abuza is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Simmons College in the United States. And he warns that it's a case of when -- not if -- that tourist resorts in southern Thailand will be targetted by extremists, who could include members of Jemaah Islamiah.

Caroline Davey began by asking Zachary Abuza about the relationship between J-I and radical groups in the southern Philippines....

Listen to the interview here:

http://203.15.102.140/elg/f60910181.mp3

--SBC.com.au 2005-10-05

[Neeranam]

They have been saying that for years.

[johnh101]

Anywhere could be next.

[britmaveric]

Dunno - be unwise if they do hit Phuket, BKK or Patters. Mass killing purge wil l be conducted down south, and it won't be a pretty sight.

[thailien8]

Anywhere could be next.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

###### right! Even though our increasingly toxic prime minister has assured us not to worry because Bkk. is safe somehow I am not convinced. I read that Bangla Road in Patong, Phuket has been turned into a walking street in the evening due to concern about vehicle bombs. Good idea! I only wish similar precautions would be taken in tourist areas in Bkk. It would be extremely easy and immensely reassuring if Soi Cowboy were blocked off at both ends so no motor vehicles could enter at night, weaving dangerously through the tipsy tourists. Do they really need to drive on such an obvious walking street? Then of course there is the horrendous firetrap that is Nana Plaza. One moderate-size vehicle bomb would wreak unbelievable carnage and basically destroy a significant portion of Thailand's precious tourism industry. Especially maddening at Nana is the vehicle barrier, complete with sign forbidding motorcycle parking inside, which is ignominiously pushed aside and ignored, completely opening up the entrance to the Plaza to any would-be car or motorcycle bomber. Though I used to hate the Patpong market, now I like it because it effectively keeps all vehicles out of Patpong One. Now if they would just block off Patpong Two....

Ok, these places are only for low-class sex tourists and bargirls, you say. Who cares about them??? Well then, what about the lack of preventive security on Skytrain and Subway? Anyone with a bomb in a backpack, as in the London and recent Bali bombings, is free to walk right on in and explode. In the Manila, Philippines mass transit system, a much more effective security system is in place. Anyone who wants to ride must first have his bag(s) opened and inspected, as well as being patted down to check for explosive belts. The New York City subway has tightened security similarly. Granted, this procedure slows down the lines of passengers somewhat and is not foolproof, but it is far better than the "mai bpen rai" attitude of "it can't happen here because it hasn't happened here yet" still prevalent in benighted Bangkok.

[zaz]

thealien8 , &lt;deleted&gt; do you have to go into such intricate detail listing the potential ways and spelling it out on the internet for terrorists to get ideas? You're not on commission are you? (being sarcastic obviously)

More to the point and topic - all these so called terrorist "experts" are just so full of fckin sh1t it just p1sses me off - where the fck were they (the experts) before 9/11? where the fck were they before the London bombings? where the fck were they before Bali 1 & 2? They can shove there fckin expertise where the sun don't fckin shine because they know absolutely fck all that helps those people that get caught up in it all - fckin dickeds!

sorry rant over.....

[thailien8]

Dear zaz,

In the unforgettable words of an MRT subway security person to whom I made my above suggestions for improving security in order to discourage terrorists and possibly save lives -- "Have you been drinking alcohol?"

[zaz]

No I haven't (never tasted the stuff...), sorry mate not trying to get at you. Those "experts" do my head in they always come along on their prancing horses AFTER the event takes place....know what I mean?!

[thailien8]

Exactly -- preventing terrorist actions is my whole point, and I agree with you that too often little or no efforts are made to stop or mitigate tragedies, natural or manmade, until after the damage has been done. Sure, hindsight is 20/20 and foresight is obscured, but not impossible. The preventive measures to cramp terrorists' style are fairly easily done and not expensive, especially compared to the cost of the damage and death toll. The experts talk about sharing intelligence, which may be useful, but physical barriers to bombers may work more effectively.

[cclub75]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/10/13...s_18860210.html

I'm surprised that this amazing news didn't hit Thaivisa.

It's a scoop.

The Agence France Presse first article had some more details.

Nation article has some interesting details too (especially when the general said : “I would have barricaded the entire village and starved them for half a day. When they got hungry they’d talk")...

AFP reported also one very spicy comment of the general. He said : "we can not do anything"...

So, this amazing story bring some questions :

-it's a major change of tune (after Thaksin himself 10 days ago who spoke about link with muslims militants in Indonesia)

-it's difficult to think about a "mistake" (high ranking general, during an official seminar)

-So what is the purpose ?

I believe, that it's just the begining of the operation "I save my ass and my face".

Second theory : to justify future "iron fist" policy, they try to play with the famous national sentiment of thai people. Something like : "the terrorists were trained by foreigners"...

Wait to see if we are going to have a kind of refutation from other member of the administration. We already had a refutation regarding the figures (3000)....

Thai insurgency backed by 3,000 Libyan-trained militants: Panlop

Published on Oct 12 , 2005

Some 3,000 "core militants" received military training in Libya before

joining the Islamic insurgency in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, a top

general said Wednesday.

"The militants have advanced over the last 20 years, as the core members

went to receive military training in Libya for four years, just like our

soldiers train," General Panlop Pinmanee told a seminar of 100 security

officials.

"When they returned they became the chief operators in the south. Those

militants have (the) same capacity as our commandos. There are 1,000 of them

in each province and all together there are 30,000 sympathisers across three

provinces," he said.

Panlop, an advisor to Thailand's defence minister and head of the Internal

Security command, which oversees military operations on Thai soil, said the

military has so far proved powerless to stop the insurgency.

"We cannot do anything," he said.

He has become a highly controversial figure in the military response to the

insurgency, after he ordered soldiers to storm the historic Krue Se mosque

on April 28 last year, resulting in the deaths of 32 militants.

Since the storming of Krue Se, which came on a day of coordinated attacks by

militants against Thai forces throughout the three Muslim provinces, Panlop

said the fighting has escalated into full guerrilla warfare that has killed

or wounded 2,000 people.

"The situation has gotten worse. Before the Krue Se incident, there were 187

so-called red-zone villages, infested with militants. But since that

incident, there are 247 red-zone villages, and 2,000 people have died or

been wounded," he said.

Panlop proposed creating 38 small, rapid-response units based in areas that

have suffered the most attacks.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya promised to release

free copies of the government's so-called "white paper" on major incidents

in the insurgency, including Krue Se.

The white papers detail what the government knew about the militants' plans

and how security forces responded.

"The white paper in each incident will be released this year and handed out

across the country to the public for free. It will educate the public and

make them more positive" about authorities' handling of the unrest, he said.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed since January 2004 in increasingly

deadly unrest in Thailand's Muslim-majority south along the Malaysian

border.

Analysts and authorities say the almost daily shootings, bombings and arson

attacks in the southern provinces are a result of a mix of Islamic

separatists, organised criminals and local corruption.

While Thailand is mainly Buddhist, most of the population in the southern

provinces are ethnic Malay, who believe Bangkok discriminates against them

because they are Muslim.

By Agence France-Presse

Edited October 12, 2005 by cclub75