'4 possible triggers' for Yala bombings

[webfact]

SPECIAL REPORT
'4 possible triggers' for Yala bombings
Pakorn Puengnetr
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The bombings in Yala on Sunday and yesterday may stem from four factors, including a challenge by insurgents to the new commander of Army Region 4, Lt Gen Walit Rojanapakdee, a national security agency source said yesterday.

Walit had visited the Khuhamuk Buddhist community in Yala's Muang district hours before the bombings, as one of his first assignments.

The blasts on Sunday included one at Raja Furniture on Sirorote Road in which a car bomb was set off, killing an unknown person. It is two years since the last car bomb was reported in Yala city - on March 31, 2012, at the "safety zone" intersection of Ruammit and Jongrak roads. That blast, which claimed 10 lives, took place on the same day of a bombing in Hat Yai.

Besides being a challenge to Walit and Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Com-mand at Yarang district's Sirindhorn Camp, only a kilometre from some bomb sites, the source suggested the bombings could have resulted from insurgents' inability to mount an attack last month because of beefed-up security. March also included symbolic days such as the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) founding day on March 13 and the second anniversary of the Hat Yai and Yala car bombings on March 31.

The third factor was security may have been looser than usual, as officers were exhausted from operations last month, while some men were sent to Bangkok for protest-related operations. Intelligence may also have been lacking, as the bombings occurred despite previous warnings of pre-Songkran blasts in Yala.

Fourth, bombings in downtown Yala may be aimed at scaring the public, so they believe insurgents have the potential to create violence at any time and anywhere, the source added.

Other security sources said the attacks in Yala's commercial area, as well as previous killings of innocent people in the region, suggested insurgents were back "full on" against the government. This may relate to BRN's YouTube announcement in December that it would no longer participate in the peace dialogue with Thailand.

Last year when the dialogue was ongoing, attacks focused on state officers, with a significant reduction in attacks on innocent citizens. Rumours that the dialogue had failed spread while violence rose, despite Malaysian facilitator Ahmad Zamzamin bin Hashim's February comment that talks would resume once Thailand sorted out its political conflicts.

All in all, it seems that the Bt200 billion spent to tackle violence over the past 11 years has evaporated in the explosions that claimed many lives.


-- The Nation 2014-04-08

[WoopyDoo]

Never really understood why people choose to blow up their own areas and indiscriminately murder their own people.

If they really have a cause, why are they not blowing up BKK and the tourist resorts?

Murdering and kidnapping westerners to raise international awareness?

Isn't that what Islamic terrorists do?... Go for the enemy and the global attention.

Is this Al Qaeda 'Thai style'.... ??

It doesn't add up.

Edited April 7, 2014 by WoopyDoo

[notmyself]

Get used to it Thailand because nothing you do will make it stop. Don't blame the Muslim's because they are people, blame Islam because it is a theocracy. Until such time that this is understood and accepted, nothing, no thing, will change.

[Seastallion]

Never really understood why people choose to blow up their own areas and indiscriminately murder their own people.

If they really have a cause, why are they not blowing up BKK and the tourist resorts?

Murdering and kidnapping westerners to raise international awareness?

Isn't that what Islamic terrorists do?... Go for the enemy and the global attention.

Is this Al Qaeda 'Thai style'.... ??

It doesn't add up.

You may be under a misapprehension; Although Muslim, they are not Islamists.

[NongKhaiKid]

The headline is straight out of the BIB handbook, list all possible motives as one of them is bound to be right.

With the Thai need to say something, get headlines to make it look as if they are on the ball etc. it is too much to ask that a simple, bland statement be made until some facts emerge that can lead to a more detailed explanation.

Can anyone imagine Chalerm, for example, admitting he didn't know about something ?

[OMGImInPattaya]

Blah, blah, blah, blah from the Bangkok based Thai Buddhist-Military State.

No justice, no peace!

Remember Somchai Neejapajit.

Nobody had to die...it was the policy choice of the Thai State.

Edited April 8, 2014 by OMGImInPattaya

[antimedia]

Enough of the rhetoric and more action would be far more desirable. Got to hand it to Thai media and journalists, much like the police, sit on their backsides in their little boxes all day dreaming up all the answers to the countries problems. I doubt if any journalist in this country could get a job on a western student newspaper at the local high school.

[diehard60]

More of suthep's thugs from the south trying to get more of everything that they want. They do this continually and the past governments (not Thaks and present) have always given in to them. To make them rich and they all say the HELL with the northeast.

[diehard60]

Never really understood why people choose to blow up their own areas and indiscriminately murder their own people.

If they really have a cause, why are they not blowing up BKK and the tourist resorts?

Murdering and kidnapping westerners to raise international awareness?

Isn't that what Islamic terrorists do?... Go for the enemy and the global attention.

Is this Al Qaeda 'Thai style'.... ??

It doesn't add up.

You may be under a misapprehension; Although Muslim, they are not Islamists.

They are not?????????? Sounds like they are to me.

[BigC]

Those signal jammers would be useful in some cases to stop mobile phone operated bombs