Thai Embassy in Manila warns Thais against traveling to militant hot-spots in the Philippines



MANILLA, 16 June 2016 (NNT) - The Royal Thai Embassy in Manila has advised Thai citizens to avoid militant hot-spots in the Philippines.

The announcement follows the recent execution of a foreign tourist by the Abu Sayyaf militant group. The group has been targeting tourists in the central and western part of Mindanao Island, as well as prominent tourist sites such as Palawan Island.

The embassy has therefore advised Thai citizens against traveling to the aforementioned areas unless absolutely necessary and to closely follow the news and safety announcements.


-- NNT 2016-06-16

Shouldn't they evacuate the whole of southern Thailand after this revelation?

Thankfully the Muslim insurgents in South Thailand have to my knowledge not targetted tourists, Abu Sayaf a an extremely violent,small group,more interested in making money from ransoms,than much else,lets hope no group like them ever emerges in Thailand.

While the southern Thai insurgents in the three southernmost border provinces have not specifically targeted tourists (then again, apart from Malaysians no one really goes there), the Thai government might want to consider warning both Thais and foreigners from travelling to that region. Sure, parts of the southern Philippines are very dangerous, but it's not much different in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

Shouldn't they evacuate the whole of southern Thailand after this revelation?

Prior to the first Gulf war in the Middle East I was in Saudi with my Thai wife. I contacted the Thai Embassy regarding the situation so I could get her registered and they basically admitted they were not interested. The Philippines sent planes to evacuate their people and the Thai Embassy didn't even want to know. No collection of contact details of Thai nationals in the Kingdom so they could send messages as news of the invasion were known.

In short they were less than useless. I got my wife out on a Saudi flight to Bangkok and I stayed. Moral is never think for one second your Embassy will do anything to help you because they wont

Im waiting for that trog sonofabitch President-elect to stop shooting his mouth off and start shooting Abu Sayaff.

Its easy to pick on 'drug dealers' etc. He's not so Rambo when it comes to real criminal terror groups.