Extremists may be planning to target westerners in Thailand's southern border provinces

[Mudcrab]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Yep! its time for the convicts to pack up and go home.

Back to Pommyland??

[marcusd]

The warnings are part of the normal country warning and specific language is

• We strongly advise you not to travel at this time to the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla or overland to and from the Malaysian border through these provinces due to high levels of ongoing violence in these areas, including terrorist attacks and bombings that result in deaths and injuries on an almost daily basis.
• Reporting indicates that extremists may be planning to target westerners in the southern border provinces.

This is one of the HIGHEST warnings issued by the Australian Government and immediately CANCELS or nulls ALL TRAVEL insurance for basically everywhere barr a few places in Thailand.

Tourists in Oz are not really THAT advernturous and are one of the nations that comes regurlarly to thai;land and is a mainstay of Phuket. With this kind of warning you will see a FAST and dramatic drop in numbers to Thailand.

[geriatrickid]

This displays a real lack of knowledge of the situation on the ground.

The real danger will come from Songkran, not BRN, RKK and that lot...they have never targetted Western tourists in the past and, had they recently changed strategies, I bet the Aussie govt would be the last to know...

Are you aware that the Australian government has assets in the south? Did you know that the UK, Canada and even the USA rely heavily on Australian intelligence in this region? The perceived change in the southern insurgent's strategy was predicted in December 2013 as government public security assets became distracted with the ongoing internal conflict. The Thai border in the south is a sieve and the Thai military cannot maintain border integrity.

[marcusd]

This displays a real lack of knowledge of the situation on the ground.

The real danger will come from Songkran, not BRN, RKK and that lot...they have never targetted Western tourists in the past and, had they recently changed strategies, I bet the Aussie govt would be the last to know...

I bet YOU are the LAST to know. the Australian Government is well informed and whilst we may not like everything they do, they are quite knowledgeable and have an agency that delivers a lot of intelligence to the USA and England - and the USA and England often ignores the advice. this was the case with the Iraqi war. We said NO the USA said yes.

If the Oz Govt is issuing a warning there is credible evidence. they do not need to scare people as there is no need nor is there any election that will favour them with misinformation.

[marcusd]

MODS>>> I know if I call someone an IDIOT I get banned.

Can I call them DIM WITS instead as there are definitely some people who need to be woken up.

[harada]

so wronn

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Almost certainly neither.

The southern Thai Muslims looking for greater autonomy or secession are by and large a nationalist political movement, not religious extremists - have been for years.

"Suthep's Yellowshirt Crew" - your words - are neither Muslim, nor secessionist, nor anti Western. Moreover they have nothing to do with the Far South.

Much more likely the Australians have picked up chatter about al-Qaeda types hiding or based in the southern provinces - not Thai Muslims but Arabs, South Asians or Pakistanis. Some of these extremists have been using Cambodia as a hiding place, and Thailand is almost as easy to hide in, especially if you're a foreign Muslim in the deep south.

WOW wow wow you are so wrong. suthep did in fact say in one of his many ravings that he hated all foriegners. So get the facts straight please.

Give the guy a break, at least he solved the queuing problem at airport immigration.

[Dgmtexas]

It’s beyond evil, to distort a beautiful religion into something to be used as a shield to mask and fulfill someone’s homicidal tendencies. I try very hard not to frown within, the second I hear the word Muslim, but it takes effort. I would feel much better, if all true Muslims started being more vocal and active in combating these thugs, homicidal maniacs and criminally inclined psychopaths. The faster this type of scum is eliminated from this world, so whatever hell awaits them, the better.

[overherebc]

A standard CYA clause issued by the government but instigated by the bean counters.

[gabruce]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Read and think before you post.

The bulletin refers to the southern border provinces and the terrorist attacks there, so it refers to the southern extremists.

You should also note that Suthep's crew hasn't been attacking anyone, however being near any protestors or independent agency offices does put you at risk from attack by red shirts (or at least from bombs presumably planted by red shirts). Also if near the NACC offices, be sure you don't resemble any of the commissioners.

[webfact]

Australian Govt warns Deep South extremists ‘may be targeting westerners’
Phuket Gazette


The upgraded travel advisory from the Australian Government warns that extremists may be planning to target westerners in the southern border provinces. Image: DFAT

PHUKET: -- The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade has upgraded its travel advisory, warning travellers that extremists in the Deep South provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat may be targeting westerners.

The advisory also includes Songkhla province, home of the bustling southern city Haad Yai, in its warning (click here).

“We strongly advise you not to travel at this time to the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla, or overland to and from the Malaysian border through these provinces due to high levels of ongoing violence in these regions,” reads the upgraded security notice.

This includes travel by train between Thailand and Malaysia.

The advisory reports that in recent years almost daily attacks have taken place in these areas, many of which have caused deaths and serious injuries.

“Bombings and shootings are commonplace in these areas. Arson and beheadings have occurred. The Thai Government has warned tourists not to travel to these areas,” reads the report.

However, the advisory – updated yesterday – now notes:

“Reporting indicates that extremists may be planning to target westerners in the southern border provinces.

“Australians in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces may be caught up in violence or terrorist attacks directed at others. If you are in these provinces, you should consider leaving. If you decide to stay in the southern provinces, you should ensure you have the appropriate personal security measures in place.”

Since January 2004, insurgency-related attacks have claimed more than 5,200 lives, with many more injured, including foreigners.

“An Australian was one of seven people injured in a bomb blast in Yala province in May 2007,” the Australian Government warned.

The heightened travel advisory follows a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks in Yala last weekend. On Sunday evening, four almost simultaneous explosions rocked Yala, killing one person and injuring 28 others in the heart of the town (story here).

The advisory comes just days before the nation celebrates the Songkran Thai New Year this coming Sunday.

The Phuket Gazette has yet to confirm whether the travel advisories of any other foreign countries will be upgraded in line with the latest warning from the Australians.

— Phuket Gazette

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Australian-Govt-warns-Deep-South-extremists-may/29103

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-04-10

[up-country_sinclair]

Songkran festivities in Hat Yai have become quite popular in recent years with foreign tourists--particularly those from Malaysia and Singapore. I hope this is not what the warning refers to.

[Eloelo]

amazing how so many TV members are so tough and sad to say stupid .....bottom line anyone who thinks Thailand is safe for Forigners ANYWHERE is a fool and they deserve all that they are mindnumbingly ignorant to......luck can run out on any hour anywhere apparently it just happens to others? and Never in Thailand to Expats

It is better to live one day as a tiger than a lifetime as a sheep! Quote by the Dalai Lama! yes luck does run out and so does the air we breath for all someday! it is not tough nor stupid to ignore these warnings..it is stupid to believe all that you are told!

[H1w4yR1da]

Its beyond evil, to distort a beautiful religion into something to be used as a shield to mask and fulfill someones homicidal tendencies. I try very hard not to frown within, the second I hear the word Muslim, but it takes effort. I would feel much better, if all true Muslims started being more vocal and active in combating these thugs, homicidal maniacs and criminally inclined psychopaths. The faster this type of scum is eliminated from this world, so whatever hell awaits them, the better.

A beautiful religion??

You are severely deluded!

[Cricketnut]

An odd worning seemingly mixing the political conflicts in BKK and some new danger posed by "etremests" in the south.

Tis about time.. Maybe ASIO know something's in the mix that we don't know yet. Even at the height of the demonstrations they were never this cautious in wording apart from the south that is..

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[GeckosDiving]

I think the Australia intelligence service was meaning more like south of northern Thailand as they have heard of all the bombings, Thuggery, Intimation, Kicking the crap out of Monks and the killing of children Which everyone knows only the red shirt wacko fanatics resort to these antics

[Cricketnut]

amazing how so many TV members are so tough and sad to say stupid .....bottom line anyone who thinks Thailand is safe for Forigners ANYWHERE is a fool and they deserve all that they are mindnumbingly ignorant to......luck can run out on any hour anywhere apparently it just happens to others? and Never in Thailand to Expats

It is better to live one day as a tiger than a lifetime as a sheep! Quote by the Dalai Lama! yes luck does run out and so does the air we breath for all someday! it is not tough nor stupid to ignore these warnings..it is stupid to believe all that you are told!

oh and the Dalai Lama is the wisest person on earth. Time and unforseen circumstance befall us all. EC 9:11 I think.

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[Celtica]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

'Intelligence' gathered by Australia, Britain and the USA, if not the most laughable oxymoron of all time then will someone please give me a better example!!!! Another example of Westerners living in Thailand but bagging every aspect of the society that is good enough to accommodate them. Give us all a break and limit the thinly veiled racism and your xenophobic paranoia, or return to the land from whence you came and be happy surrounded by like minded people of similar intellect, We would certainly be happier without the constant carping here in Thailand.

Why last to know? You think the USA, Britain and Oz might not share Intel. In some ways, the Thais would be likely to be the last to know, particularly if any intelligence was gained internationally.

Let's see if the USA upgrades their warnings.

[dru2]

so wronn

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Almost certainly neither.

The southern Thai Muslims looking for greater autonomy or secession are by and large a nationalist political movement, not religious extremists - have been for years.

"Suthep's Yellowshirt Crew" - your words - are neither Muslim, nor secessionist, nor anti Western. Moreover they have nothing to do with the Far South.

Much more likely the Australians have picked up chatter about al-Qaeda types hiding or based in the southern provinces - not Thai Muslims but Arabs, South Asians or Pakistanis. Some of these extremists have been using Cambodia as a hiding place, and Thailand is almost as easy to hide in, especially if you're a foreign Muslim in the deep south.

WOW wow wow you are so wrong. suthep did in fact say in one of his many ravings that he hated all foriegners. So get the facts straight please.

He said he didn't respect foreigners, not that he was going to blow them up.

I don't respect morons.

[Rimbuman]

Sure way to get attention

[thailampang2012]

Very good "reason" for a USA Navy base in Songkhla too.....Spring is just few months away...

Edited April 10, 2014 by thailampang2012

[Cricketnut]

'Intelligence' gathered by Australia, Britain and the USA, if not the most laughable oxymoron of all time then will someone please give me a better example!!!! Another example of Westerners living in Thailand but bagging every aspect of the society that is good enough to accommodate them. Give us all a break and limit the thinly veiled racism and your xenophobic paranoia, or return to the land from whence you came and be happy surrounded by like minded people of similar intellect, We would certainly be happier without the constant carping here in Thailand.

Why last to know? You think the USA, Britain and Oz might not share Intel. In some ways, the Thais would be likely to be the last to know, particularly if any intelligence was gained internationally.

Let's see if the USA upgrades their warnings.

let's bet they do likewise

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[winstonc]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Yep! its time for the convicts to pack up and go home.

australians are not convicts anymore ..leave them alone.ned kelly..mmmmm

[Publicus]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Almost certainly neither.

The southern Thai Muslims looking for greater autonomy or secession are by and large a nationalist political movement, not religious extremists - have been for years.

"Suthep's Yellowshirt Crew" - your words - are neither Muslim, nor secessionist, nor anti Western. Moreover they have nothing to do with the Far South.

Much more likely the Australians have picked up chatter about al-Qaeda types hiding or based in the southern provinces - not Thai Muslims but Arabs, South Asians or Pakistanis. Some of these extremists have been using Cambodia as a hiding place, and Thailand is almost as easy to hide in, especially if you're a foreign Muslim in the deep south.

The characters in your last graf and others have been in the South and in those provinces primarily, but not exclusively, for the past 10 or more years, in transit, hiding out, for r&r, regrouping and doing many other similar things. So merely their presence alone would not (necessarily) have resulted in the well informed Canberra government issuing this new most serious assessment and strongest advisory, which is not to travel there.

Police in Had Yai have for years been stationed visibly on numerous street corners and at major intersections, markets, malls, the airport and other places because the presence of local militants and foreign supporters makes a dangerous mix, meaning explosions in Had Yai. The army rides around Had Yai major thoroughfares brandishing automatic weapons.

So this advisory marks a sharp change in circumstances and conditions there, whether only temporarily or long term. Perhaps some of the foreign extremists who continually blow through the area have changed too.

[Ulysses G.]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Read and think before you post.

The bulletin refers to the southern border provinces and the terrorist attacks there, so it refers to the southern extremists.

I did. The article should have been a little more specific as I really am not sure who they are talking about. If you read this thread, you will see that other knowledgeable posters do not agree with your interpretation, so I still don't know who the writer was referring to.

[bigbamboo]

This displays a real lack of knowledge of the situation on the ground.

The real danger will come from Songkran, not BRN, RKK and that lot...they have never targetted Western tourists in the past and, had they recently changed strategies, I bet the Aussie govt would be the last to know...

Why last to know? You think the USA, Britain and Oz might not share Intel. In some ways, the Thais would be likely to be the last to know, particularly if any intelligence was gained internationally.

Let's see if the USA upgrades their warnings.

Agree. Where intelligence is involved the Thais are usually some way off the pace.

[DrMe]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Nope... Big brother's red shirt mod from Dubai

[DrMe]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Read and think before you post.

The bulletin refers to the southern border provinces and the terrorist attacks there, so it refers to the southern extremists.

I did. The article should have been a little more specific as I really am not sure who they are talking about. If you read this thread, you will see that other knowledgeable posters do not agree with your interpretation, so I still don't know who the writer was referring to.

"If you read this thread, you will see that other knowledgeable posters do not agree with your interpretation, so I still don't know who the writer was referring to. " Yah, one men under several log in name ... great

[dru2]

Ate these "extremists" Muslims looking to succeed from Thailand or Suthep's yellowshirt crew?

Almost certainly neither.

The southern Thai Muslims looking for greater autonomy or secession are by and large a nationalist political movement, not religious extremists - have been for years.

"Suthep's Yellowshirt Crew" - your words - are neither Muslim, nor secessionist, nor anti Western. Moreover they have nothing to do with the Far South.

Much more likely the Australians have picked up chatter about al-Qaeda types hiding or based in the southern provinces - not Thai Muslims but Arabs, South Asians or Pakistanis. Some of these extremists have been using Cambodia as a hiding place, and Thailand is almost as easy to hide in, especially if you're a foreign Muslim in the deep south.

The characters in your last graf and others have been in the South and in those provinces primarily, but not exclusively, for the past 10 or more years, in transit, hiding out, for r&r, regrouping and doing many other similar things. So merely their presence alone would not (necessarily) have resulted in the well informed Canberra government issuing this new most serious assessment and strongest advisory, which is not to travel there.

Police in Had Yai have for years been stationed visibly on numerous street corners and at major intersections, markets, malls, the airport and other places because the presence of local militants and foreign supporters makes a dangerous mix, meaning explosions in Had Yai. The army rides around Had Yai major thoroughfares brandishing automatic weapons.

So this advisory marks a sharp change in circumstances and conditions there, whether only temporarily or long term. Perhaps some of the foreign extremists who continually blow through the area have changed too.

I have to agree with you. The southern insurgency could draw in extremists any time - it probably already has. Especially from Indonesia. You are right.

[ubonrthai]

Still wondering what information they have about specific attacks on foreigners. Nobody else is reporting this that I can find yet.

[ZAKY]

While everybody is concentrating on Bangkok. The real danger of Thailand will come from the south. Invasion ? Appropriation ? At least 5 provinces will go in a near future.

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