Moscow warns that ISIS in Thailand to attack Russian targets

[webfact]

Moscow Warns That ISIS in Thailand to Attack Russian Targets
By Teeranai Charuvastra
Staff Reporter


Still image from an Islamic State propaganda video found on YouTube.

BANGKOK — Ten Syrian members of the Islamic State slipped into Thailand last month to attack Russian interests, according to a leaked Thai police memo citing information from the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB.

The memo, issued Friday and marked “Urgent” and “Secret,” cites intelligence from the FSB sent to Thailand’s National Security Council that members of the Islamic State entered the kingdom between Oct. 15 and Oct. 31.

It specifically indicates that four traveled to Pattaya, two to Phuket and two to Bangkok and two to unknown destinations. The alleged terrorists’ whereabouts and names were not identified. According to the FSB warning, their goal is to perpetrate attacks against Russian interests in the kingdom.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1449152163&typecate=06&section=


-- Khaosod English 2015-12-04

------------------------------

Urgent:
Leaked Memo reveals possible ISIS plot against Russians in Pattaya



PATTAYA: -- On Wednesday Night, news organizations around Thailand received a copy of a leaked memo issued by the Royal Thai Police Special Branch to Police Divisions around Thailand detailing information from the Russian Authorities indicating a possible ISIS plot against Russians in key tourist cities including Pattaya.

The memo is dated 27th November 2015 and detailed information Special Branch received from the Russian Federation Federal Security Service (FSB) of 10 Syrian men, though to be ISIS members who entered Thailand between 15th and 31st October. It states that two travelled to Phuket, two remained in the Thai Capital Bangkok, two went to unknown destinations and the remaining two travelled to Pattaya.

The FSB warns that they are likely to disrupt Russian interests in Thailand, presumably in revenge for Russia conducting air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. The memo urges the Thai Police to increase security at key areas in each of Thailand’s major tourist destinations and warns the threat may well extend to other foreign nationals from countries who are also involved in attacking Islamic State targets in Syria.

Full story: http://pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/219488/urgent-leaked-memo-reveals-possible-isis-plot-against-russians-in-pattaya/


-- Pattaya One 2015-12-04



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Russians in Phuket potential IS targets, warns unvalidated police memo
The Phuket News


The memo - yet to be substantiated - warned of two Syrian ISIS members travelling to Phuket to stage attacks on Russian nationals. Photo: Khaosod English

PHUKET: Two Syrian members of the Islamic State have travelled to Phuket with the intent of staging an attack on Russian nationals says a document - yet to be substantiated - reportedly issued by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

The memo - yet to be substantiated - warned of two Syrian ISIS members travelling to Phuket to stage attacks on Russian nationals. Photo: Khaosod English

The unvalidated memo, apparently issued last Friday (Nov 27), is marked “Urgent” and “Secret”, and was issued by the intelligence arm of the Royal Thai Police Special Branch. It was sent to all of its investigative divisions, reports Khaosod English. (See story here)

The notice cites intelligence from the FSB sent to Thailand’s National Security Council that 10 members of the Islamic State entered Thailand between October 15 and 31.

Two of the terror suspects reportedly travelled to Phuket. Another four travelled to Pattaya and two more stayed in Bangkok, while the destination of the other remains unknown, said the notice.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-in-phuket-potential-is-targets-warns-unvalidated-police-memo-55256.php


-- Phuket News 2015-12-04

[Jingthing]

I just saw this reported on NHK (Japanese) tv which said the same thing but added that the targets were BOTH Russian and western tourists. I don't think anyone is particularly surprised by this.

Personally, I have little confidence that these terrorist forces can be well contained here. So how are we supposed to react to this?

Here in Pattaya, pretty much the entire city is a soft target. But some potential targets are more obvious than others. How about a step up in actual security measures rather than the lame "security theater" of entry scanners on some doors at Central Pattaya Beach Mall?

Edited December 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[Ks45672]

I just saw this reported on NHK (Japanese) tv which said the same thing but added that the targets were BOTH Russian and western tourists. I don't think anyone is particularly surprised by this.

Personally, I have little confidence that these terrorist forces can be well contained here. So how are we supposed to react to this?

Avoid Russians and their hangouts?

[NongKhaiKid]

Unacceptable ! No not the potential terrorist threat as we know there's no terrorism here and that's official but how dare the Russians make irresponsible comments that might affect tourism.

Standby for a certain lady to play down the story and produce figures to show that, as ever, tourist numbers are increasing.

Edited December 3, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[Jingthing]

Again, they are not only after Russians. Is Paris in Russia? In Pattaya and Phuket they get Russians and westerners. You can't really step out in Pattaya and segregate yourself from Russians (or westerners).

I'm asking a serious question.

Should we avoid the malls, walking street, etc.?

It's hard to completely avoid the malls but I think it would be sensible to avoid large gatherings such as at festivals that attract mostly foreigners.

As far as the Russians ... so now Egypt is out. Turkey is out. So ISIS wants to make Pattaya out too?

Edited December 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[Reigntax]

I just saw this reported on NHK (Japanese) tv which said the same thing but added that the targets were BOTH Russian and western tourists. I don't think anyone is particularly surprised by this.

Personally, I have little confidence that these terrorist forces can be well contained here. So how are we supposed to react to this?

Avoid Russians and their hangouts?

Even without ISIS, thats the usual the intention.

[Jingthing]

I would like to see armed soldiers now at obvious areas of potential attack all over town. Including beaches. They have declared war against civilization. They're not kidding around. Would that depress tourists? Sure it would but the alternative is what? Waiting for the attacks?

Edited December 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[Rocceao]

intelligence from the FSB sent to Thailand’s National Security Council that members of the Islamic State entered the kingdom between Oct. 15 and Oct. 31.

It specifically indicates that four traveled to Pattaya, two to Phuket and two to Bangkok and two to unknown destinations.

So the Russians know all of this, yet were unable to inform on them to the Thai Govt/immigration, how did they know they wen't to Pattaya,Phuket and BKK, but still unable to inform the authorities, only able to inform after the fact.

Sounds a bit off to me.

[Jingthing]

It doesn't sound off to me. Thailand is an obvious target for ISIS. I'm surprised it took them so long to get active here.

[Walter Travolta]

Chillout Jingthing, if its gonna happen you cant stop it.

If terrorists are going to wander about with a death vest on, the wont be bothered about the army on the streets, they'll just blow them away aswell when they blow themselves up!!

Avoid Mike's shopping mall though - and Jomtien!

[puukao]

I heard they will be dressed as ladyboys.

be careful out there farang....

[Aussieroaming]

Well The government can organise a sting.

Free sex to all Syrians. The Syrians is question will be the only ones who can't remove their belts without giving away the game.

[NongKhaiKid]

Again, they are not only after Russians. Is Paris in Russia? In Pattaya and Phuket they get Russians and westerners. You can't really step out in Pattaya and segregate yourself from Russians (or westerners).

I'm asking a serious question.

Should we avoid the malls, walking street, etc.?

It's hard to completely avoid the malls but I think it would be sensible to avoid large gatherings such as at festivals that attract mostly foreigners.

As far as the Russians ... so now Egypt is out. Turkey is out. So ISIS wants to make Pattaya out too?

Your comments take me back to visiting the Philippines when the US military had a massive presence there so normal practice was to let hair grow etc to avoid looking like a serviceman.

On more than one occasion the New Peoples Army apologised for ' accidentally ' shooting a tourist who had been mistaken for military personnel. They shot first on the presumption that non-Filipinos with short hair were from the US Armed Forces.

If ISIS are here are planning anything I doubt they'll bother with the niceties of identifying nationalities first.

[uptheos]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that one day Thailand is going to be hit bigger than anyone expects.

The bombing at the Erawan Shrine was merely their way of saying 'look what we can do, easy as pie'.

When I think of places where there are hoards of people, Thai's and foreigners they could cause devastation that will bring the country to its knees.

Sure we can't stop it, maybe we shouldn't even worry about it, just accept it is going to happen and hope we're at home that particular night.

They won't be without support either, there are enough Muslim insurgents in the south happy to lend a hand.

[chiang mai]

I agree, the tourist spots of Thailand will inevitably become a target at some point, as JT said earlier, all of Pattaya is a soft target.

Edited December 3, 2015 by chiang mai

[Walter Travolta]

I was in one of the open air bars on Soi Buakhao Pattaya this year and saw a shifty looking geezer and thought to myself then that anything happening around that area would see a lot of westerners off!

Judging by recent topics, I guess some farang in the north of Thailand would have a smile on their faces!!

Anyway, there is no way they will find their 99 virgins in Pattaya (or however many it is)

[Somtamnication]

I just showed this article to my lovely 5.2ft wife. I decreed that we can no longer go shopping at Central Phuket. She told me in perfect English to go and <deleted> myself.

[Thai at Heart]

But but but, didn't the Thais say that there was no Isis in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago.

[Walter Travolta]

But but but, didn't the Thais say that there was no Isis in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago.

Of course they did!!

What do you want them to do? Tell everyone the place is riddled with em?!!

The report was leaked after all, it's not a newsfeed

[chiang mai]

But but but, didn't the Thais say that there was no Isis in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago.

Of course they did!!

What do you want them to do? Tell everyone the place is riddled with em?!!

The report was leaked after all, it's not a newsfeed

But it was marked "secret".

[Walter Travolta]

But but but, didn't the Thais say that there was no Isis in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago.

Of course they did!!

What do you want them to do? Tell everyone the place is riddled with em?!!

The report was leaked after all, it's not a newsfeed

But it was marked "secret".

That's my point CM, it was never meant to be public info, so they are not going to want to scare people out of the tourist spots?

[metisdead]

A post in violation of fair use policy has been removed:

14) You will not post any copyrighted material except as fair use laws apply (as in the case of news articles). Please only post a link, the headline and the first three sentences.

[Ks45672]

The security checking has more or less stopped in bkk anyway so this would be the perfect time for a massacre from a terrorist perspective ....

Strategicly, they could and would cripple the country if they did the same in 8 new tourist locations.... At the same time

Thailand is just not equipped to deal with a tragedy of that scale and they are too stubborn to ask for help from countries with real expertise

Hopefully the Russians and interpol will get these guys before they blow up any innocent tourists because there is very little chance of the rtp catching them by themselves Imo

[stickylies]

unfortunately, with suicide bombers ANY place is a soft spot basically. if it happens in pattaya or phuket it will cause major damage to thailand but don't underestimate russian intelligence who are present in those places too.

[Ks45672]

unfortunately, with suicide bombers ANY place is a soft spot basically. if it happens in pattaya or phuket it will cause major damage to thailand but don't underestimate russian intelligence who are present in those places too.

The first 8 must be already identified, if they know their arrival dates and travel itinerary...

I would have guessed they were under surveillance to see who they're working with that's already here....

The strange thing is this "secret info" being released BEFORE all these terrorists are locked down??

Whatever they might have been plotting, they now have the time to change it... That's the Thai way to catch a suspect, tell him he has to turn himself in

[digibum]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that one day Thailand is going to be hit bigger than anyone expects.

The bombing at the Erawan Shrine was merely their way of saying 'look what we can do, easy as pie'.

When I think of places where there are hoards of people, Thai's and foreigners they could cause devastation that will bring the country to its knees.

Sure we can't stop it, maybe we shouldn't even worry about it, just accept it is going to happen and hope we're at home that particular night.

They won't be without support either, there are enough Muslim insurgents in the south happy to lend a hand.

Does this story significantly increase the likelihood of someone being attacked in Thailand? I don't know. I'm pretty sure no matter where you live in the world right now, if you live in a populated enough area, there's a better than 0% chance of terrorism. Look at this thing in CA yesterday. Zero warning. They're not even sure it was terrorist related (though they were armed to the gills and had pipe bombs so if it wasn't terrorist related, &lt;deleted&gt;?!?!).

So, really, the question is are we even talking about a significant increase in risk? To me, it seems like the difference between driving on a Wednesday evening or driving on a Friday. Fridays, generally (according to people who track this sort of stuff), have higher traffic accident and fatality rates. Do you drive less on Fridays? Do you avoid driving on Fridays? Do you drive more carefully on Fridays?

If the answer is no, you're probably talking about a similar increase in risk as you are based on the day of the week you decide to drive a vehicle.

And what are you talking about in terms of hoards of people that would be able to bring the country to its knees? Based on what we've seen in terms of terrorism in general, and not even ISIS specific, there's a practical limit on the amount of damage they can inflict. Granted, the attacks on 9/11 were/are horrific in scale but outside of that, it's mostly been bombings and shootings.

Bombs have somewhat of a limit on the amount of damage they can do. The bigger you make the bomb the more suspicious materials you have to gather and thus the bigger the chance you'll get caught. So, even if you say that they were to place a bomb in Siam Paragon, the bomb would only kill people within a certain proximity to it.

Shootings have a similar dynamic in that they are limited in scope to the number of people who unable to escape the gunman. Even in the Paris shootings, at the Bataclan theatre, 89 people died in a place that has a stated capacity for 1500. I haven't seen the numbers for how many people were actually there but once the shooting started people exited the place very rapidly which puts a cap on the number of possible victims.

I don't want to sound too cold or unfeeling here. I was as choked up as anyone when I heard about what happened in Paris but I'm just trying to put some perspective to your over-the-top scare.

Minus weapons of mass destruction, chances are that an attack, even in Bangkok, would result in under 200 fatalities at the most extreme with a more likely number being in double-digits. Hardly enough to bring the country to its knees as you stated.

And that's especially true if the aim was to target Russians and westerners in general. The kinds of attacked that would really bring Thailand to its knees like blowing up a damn don't target Russians or foreigners.

So let's dial it back a bit.

Is it cause to be more mindful of suspicious behavior? Yes.

Should you avoid the Russian nightclub's "We bombed ISIS" party? Yes.

Should you avoid going out and living your life as you normally would? No.

[digibum]

Judging by recent topics, I guess some farang in the north of Thailand would have a smile on their faces!!

Why? Two of the men are unaccounted for.

[Artisi]

But but but, didn't the Thais say that there was no Isis in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago.

Of course they did!!

What do you want them to do? Tell everyone the place is riddled with em?!!

The report was leaked after all, it's not a newsfeed

But it was marked "secret".

Typical LOS no secrets here.

[Walter Travolta]

Judging by recent topics, I guess some farang in the north of Thailand would have a smile on their faces!!

Why? Two of the men are unaccounted for.

I was referring to a bit of Pattaya bashing on a couple of recent threads from country boys

[Ks45672]

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that one day Thailand is going to be hit bigger than anyone expects.

The bombing at the Erawan Shrine was merely their way of saying 'look what we can do, easy as pie'.

When I think of places where there are hoards of people, Thai's and foreigners they could cause devastation that will bring the country to its knees.

Sure we can't stop it, maybe we shouldn't even worry about it, just accept it is going to happen and hope we're at home that particular night.

They won't be without support either, there are enough Muslim insurgents in the south happy to lend a hand.

Does this story significantly increase the likelihood of someone being attacked in Thailand? I don't know. I'm pretty sure no matter where you live in the world right now, if you live in a populated enough area, there's a better than 0% chance of terrorism. Look at this thing in CA yesterday. Zero warning. They're not even sure it was terrorist related (though they were armed to the gills and had pipe bombs so if it wasn't terrorist related, <deleted>?!?!).

So, really, the question is are we even talking about a significant increase in risk? To me, it seems like the difference between driving on a Wednesday evening or driving on a Friday. Fridays, generally (according to people who track this sort of stuff), have higher traffic accident and fatality rates. Do you drive less on Fridays? Do you avoid driving on Fridays? Do you drive more carefully on Fridays?

If the answer is no, you're probably talking about a similar increase in risk as you are based on the day of the week you decide to drive a vehicle.

And what are you talking about in terms of hoards of people that would be able to bring the country to its knees? Based on what we've seen in terms of terrorism in general, and not even ISIS specific, there's a practical limit on the amount of damage they can inflict. Granted, the attacks on 9/11 were/are horrific in scale but outside of that, it's mostly been bombings and shootings.

Bombs have somewhat of a limit on the amount of damage they can do. The bigger you make the bomb the more suspicious materials you have to gather and thus the bigger the chance you'll get caught. So, even if you say that they were to place a bomb in Siam Paragon, the bomb would only kill people within a certain proximity to it.

Shootings have a similar dynamic in that they are limited in scope to the number of people who unable to escape the gunman. Even in the Paris shootings, at the Bataclan theatre, 89 people died in a place that has a stated capacity for 1500. I haven't seen the numbers for how many people were actually there but once the shooting started people exited the place very rapidly which puts a cap on the number of possible victims.

I don't want to sound too cold or unfeeling here. I was as choked up as anyone when I heard about what happened in Paris but I'm just trying to put some perspective to your over-the-top scare.

Minus weapons of mass destruction, chances are that an attack, even in Bangkok, would result in under 200 fatalities at the most extreme with a more likely number being in double-digits. Hardly enough to bring the country to its knees as you stated.

And that's especially true if the aim was to target Russians and westerners in general. The kinds of attacked that would really bring Thailand to its knees like blowing up a damn don't target Russians or foreigners.

So let's dial it back a bit.

Is it cause to be more mindful of suspicious behavior? Yes.

Should you avoid the Russian nightclub's "We bombed ISIS" party? Yes.

Should you avoid going out and living your life as you normally would? No.

Let's say you have just 8 guys And they are all willing to do another erawan shine size bomb

If they bonb locations in every tourist hub in the country how many people are going to cross Thailand off their list? I'd say most....

Its not strictly about the number of casualties , terrorism is effective when people are scared of what might or could happen, not only what actually happens

A country that relies on its tourism industry will be harmed to some degree even by these news headlines whether there are anymore attacks or not....

Let's hope they can make examples of these 8 guys ASAP before they can do anymore damage