Narathiwat Rocked By Two Bomb Blasts; Seen As Attempt By Insurgents To Reject Peace Process

[webfact]

Narathiwat rocked by two blasts
The Nation

Police and security officials examine the wreckage of a pickup truck used in a bomb attack in Narathiwat yesterday.

Vehicle bombs seen as attempt by insurgents to reject peace process launched in Malaysia

NARATHIWAT: -- Two vehicle bombs in a span of five hours yesterday rocked Narathiwat's Muang district less than 24 hours after the signing of an agreement in Malaysia between Thailand's security authorities and four people purportedly representing insurgent groups in the South of Thailand.

The two attacks - the first at around 6am and the next at around noon - wounded six people and caused heavy property damage.

They were deemed by the media and the public as an act of defiance by insurgents opposed to the peace process.

The attacks were carried out for the first time in recent months within a safety perimeter dubbed the green zones.

The media and the public also questioned whether talks on the same day between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak were merely a public relations stunt for political gains by both sides as Malaysia is heading for general elections while the Yingluck government has been heavily criticised for its failure to contain the situation in the South.

Based on defence and intelligence sources, attacks were recently carried out independently by the local leaders of insurgents without or with minimal supervision or orders from the core insurgency leadership.

The vehicle-bomb attacks in Narathiwat could be seen as an attack by local insurgent cells aimed at showing that the talks and agreements reached in Malaysia mean nothing to the separatist cause.

The first bomb went off at around 5am. About 5kg of explosives were hidden in a motorcycle parked near the main market in Muang municipality. Six people were injured and one vehicle and six motorcycles were damaged. The grey Honda Dream motorcycle that carried the explosives was reportedly stolen on December 1 last year. Military ordnance personnel said later that the bomb was detonated by a digital wristwatch instead of a mobile phone that is regularly used, as this motorcycle was parked behind a military vehicle operating mobile phone signal-jamming.

Footage from security cameras near the scene later showed unclear images of the operation by the insurgents, because it was still dark at the time of the blast. The footage only showed three pedestrians walking past the scene at the time of explosion, police said.

The second bomb went off around noon, when 50kg of explosives packed in a green Isuzu pickup parked in front of the command post of the provincial police force blew up. There were no casualties but nearby shophouses and a car were damaged. The green Isuzu pickup was not on a five-car watch list and was different from two other vehicles about which authorities had issued a warning earlier.

Military ordnance personnel said later that the explosives were fully contained in a cooking-gas cylinder and only half of the material went off. It was detonated jointly by an alarm clock and a mobile phone. Security officials said this bomb attack was likely carried out by a group responsible for a bomb attack on February 23 near a convenience store located across the barracks of the 45th Ranger Paramilitary Regiment in Ra Ngae district.


-- The Nation 2013-03-02

[hawker9000]

Thanks be to the prophet...

[hellodolly]

Thanks be to the prophet...

May his rest be a hot one.

Hate to see such a great man be cold.

[bigbamboo]

So that's Chalerm, Thaksin and Yingluck all coming up short with their efforts in the deep south.

Who else fancies a go?

[nuananddon]

Well that didn't last long. Does anyone have any idea how many different factions there are down there and what's it going to take to really stop this carnage. Personally think they should get their wish, make martyrs out them that want it so bad.

[khaowong1]

You think? Fanatical muslims don't want peace.. they want to control everything.. getting along with the rest of the world is not in their vocabulary.. they want sharia law, not democracy.. this way they can blame the rest of the democratic world for their problems. they hold half of their populations down, the female half, because that's what their fanatical teachings tell them to do. they have basically no infrastructure to support themselves or their families and blame the rest of the world for what the others have and they don't. they consider those muslims who have moved to demoratic nations and are making a good living for theirselves and their families and living a good life, as traitors.

[vijer]

I don't think Thailand should negotiate with them. Nobody is stopping them from practicing their religion, they just want the rest of the world to be controled by an idiotic religion. Even if Thailand gave them the south eventually that wouldn't be enough and they would want more and more and more.

[khaowong1]

I don't think Thailand should negotiate with them. Nobody is stopping them from practicing their religion, they just want the rest of the world to be controled by an idiotic religion. Even if Thailand gave them the south eventually that wouldn't be enough and they would want more and more and more.

Their religious nuts, oops, leaders, won't let them lower themselves to working like the rest of us working stiffs, so they have nothing and want what we have... and yes, they will always want more and more. Even when they have more, it's not enough.