At Least 107 Killed In Thailand Gunbattles

[george]

At least 70 killed in Thailand gunbattles

BANGKOK: -- Thai police and troops killed at least 58 people on Wednesday, most of them youths, in a series of dawn gun battles in a sharp escalation of four months of violence in the restive Muslim south, officials said.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces have been hit by a wave of shootings, bombings and arson attacks that have claimed at least 60 lives since a January 4 raid on an army barracks.

"They attacked five of our police booths in Yala province this morning and we killed 22 of them," Colonel Prinya Kwanyuen, head of Yala province police, told Reuters by telephone. The largely Muslim province of Yala is 780 miles south of the capital Bangkok.

Boonyasidh Suwannarat, the provincial governor of Yala, south of Bangkok, later said police and soldiers who had come under attack had shot dead at least 45 people.

One soldier died in one of the Yala attacks, which were led by groups of at least 20 men dressed in blackand armed with guns, swords and machetes, Prinya added.

In nearby Pattani province, police and troops shot dead at least 13 people they described as bandits who attacked as many as three security outposts. One soldier and two policemen also died in the pre-dawn exchanges of fire.

Local television showed pictures of police and troops taking up positions in rural areas, as well as scenes of wounded border troops being unloaded from trucks onto stretchers.

At least one dead soldier was shown lying in the wreckage of a destroyed building.

Despite a huge military clampdown in the region, which was home to a low-key separatist rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s, the violence has shown few signs of abating.

Bangkok has blamed the trouble on local gangsters exploiting disaffected local Malay-speaking Muslim youths who feel few emotional ties to the predominantly Buddhist country.

However independent analysts fear international militant groups, such as Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, might find fertile recruiting ground among the region's impoverished Muslims.

--Reuters 2004-04-28

[GuestHouse]

Do not be mistaken..non of this "unrest" is related to terrorism.....

Terrorism does not exist in Thailand.... but don't quote me on that..

[george]

Update:

95 killed in Thai police attack

BANGKOK, Thailand -- At least 95 people have been killed in co-ordinated attacks on security posts in Thailand in the deadliest fighting this year in the country's predominantly Muslim south.

Black-clad bandits attacked 15 police stations in three southern provinces -- Yala, Pattani and Songkhla -- killing three policemen and one army officer.

More than 150 people have died since unrest began in early January in Thailand's restive Muslim-dominated southern provinces, but Wednesday's violence is the worst single incident to date.

"In Yala alone the insurgents attacked six targets and at least 45 of them were killed. We lost two police officers and seven were injured," Yala governor Boonyasit Suwanarat it told a news conference.

The largely Muslim province of Yala is 1,300 kilometers (780 miles) south of the capital, Bangkok.

Local television showed pictures of police and troops taking up positions in rural areas, as well as scenes of wounded border troops being unloaded from trucks onto stretchers.

At least one dead soldier was shown lying in the wreckage of a destroyed building. It is not known yet whether the attackers are Muslim separatists.

Bangkok has so far blamed the trouble on local gangsters exploiting disaffected local Malay-speaking Muslim youths who feel few emotional ties to the predominantly Buddhist country.

Last week 50 government buildings were torched in a single night and fears are growing that Thai citizens may soon become increasingly drawn into the violence.

The government is also facing criticism for its handling of the violence amid fears that outside terrorist forces could be stirring the trouble.

--CNN 2004-04-28

[bartender100]

Lead story on CNN,pushed a major battle in iraq to second place.Not to good for the tourist industry.

[thaimee]

This is a Topic dear to my heart. I hold Stock futures. I've no choice but to come to terms with the whispering of unrest in the South and my Portfoilo heads South.

This is unfortunately what they call in the market's 'taking profit'. For me it's called an excuse to butcher profit. For Thai's the unrest it has to be said is utter outrage and for muslims demeaning of their religion and culture if only a handful are perpetrators.

Yes, my views are likely to be biased. I would agree GuestHouse that the unrest is not terrorism related as any attack near Bangkok would warrant the definite end to any rights Muslims have had in the first instance.

Sort of Newton's Law isn't really, if they wan't to make waves they have to do it in a diluted manner that would give them eventual rights but without harming the economy and likewise deleting any revenue which would go their way. Wait and see...

Thaimee.

[translator]

[Did they get them all? My time here is precious. For every bullet missed Tis an opportunity for the want it all's to make further demands on our beloved Buddhist Culture! Trying to keep a civil tongue!

Thaimee. ]

nice mouth thaimee.....

if everyone was thinking as you do, what a mess the the world would be in .....

On behalf of the world, welcome to the war thaimee....

[the gentleman]

very sad indeed, what ever nationality or religion these guys were, they deserved to die, weed out the rotten apples quickly and correctly...

I hope this International story does not affect Tourism for Phuket as the hospitality industry is struggling already.

[Mai Krap]

WOW,,,, These guys must have been trained realy well,,,, Cause the pictures I saw showed guys shot off of motercycles and they still had the knives in their hands,,,, now thats good training....

[translator]

Most of them were youths

Its a sad event that a young person can extinguish his or her life on the preached belief that what they undertake is justified and for the good of what is instilled in them. Its a shame they did not use the rehabilitation plans put into place by the present govt. so many lives for no future.

how many mothers are missing a son today.....!

[thaimee]

Unfortunately Translator war is every day happenings. Translator have you been schooled in etiquette and are you aware Stock Markets are a good indicator to world truths and anything that can be extracted or analysed would be a valuable tool to source an outcome in the near, medium, long term future?

If I was to sell my stocks it would be inevitable that hells kitchen had opened up business. What you are saying is not making sense other than trying to rile me for what reason i've no idea. Leave it up to us mature members in this here forum.

If there were more people like me I would be bored. Welcome to Pattaya and on behalf of Thaimee welcome to Civility. Farewell.

I'll save the last bullet for you translator

Thaimee.

[castelleone]

when the attacks and the torching of buildings in the south started a few months ago, I was already afraid of an increasing inner Thai/muslim problem.

Unfortunately I was not wrong and it will have to be seen how the government can resolve this situation with the least casualties.

I dont want to be too pessimistic about the tourism in the Phuket and Samui area but surely it will not improve the incoming figures.

Peacefully driving my motorbike through Pattani last sunday, I would not have thought of being so near to the coming drama.

After SARS and bird flu the country really did not need that. What else is to come?

[thaimee]

After SARS and bird flu the country really did not need that. What else is to come?

The next saga I believe is the Egat Dispute. Indeed whatever next? My portfoilio is heading South.

Perhaps translator should head South and verbally assault the young youths.

Young or middle aged, anyone who threatens the way of our beloved Thailand should pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Thaimee.

[ChiangMaiThai]

95 dead in morning gun battles? What the <deleted>#k? Is Toxin still going to try to pass this off as 'unrest'?

[plachon]

The news just in from AFP is that there are 127 dead, which is NEWS indeed! This is going to play around in the international press for days, if not weeks to come and will not do the tourism industry any favours at all. It begs the question, if the security forces knew about this raid and were "prepared for it", why did they use such lethal force against teenagers on bikes armed with machetes? It's even more drastic than the situation in Israel and is reminscent of the response used on the God's Army rebels (what religion were they all you Muslim haters?) who took Ratchburi hospital a couple of years ago. No prisoners taken there either. Very sad situation yet again.

[Mai Krap]

If you check out FOXNEWS.com you will see that this was a attack by LOCAL DRUG ADDICTS. This was told to the news by a muslim cleric who got the story from the government. There was definately no outsiders involved and it was all a terible coincdence.... Definatly.

[NedKelly]

I see what Thaimee is saying. Whoever is causing all this unrest is trying

to do so without destroying the economy. Make sense. But my fear is that all this shit is snowballing. Incident after incident.....should only be a matter of time before something really big happens unfortunately. But lets hope not. I persoannly know people from Bali who had business there and still do. What they have told me is incredible. Thailand does not need that sort of thing to happen to it's tourism industry.

[plachon]

very sad indeed, what ever nationality or religion these guys were, they deserved to die, weed out the rotten apples quickly and correctly...

I hope this International story does not affect Tourism for Phuket as the hospitality industry is struggling already.

Bit of a simplistic posting from you eh, Gent? For someone who so vehemently attacks GWB, USof A and the justification for the War in Iraq, I'm surprised that you jump to conclusions so quickly about this one. "Same, same but different", is my simplistic slant on the southern problem, which has after all been simmering for years and years. But why does it only boil over in such a volatile fashion now, when country's are so hasty about joining up to Georgie's "War on Terror"? As as has been so often said in the past, but still flies over most people's noddle, the flawed logic in declaring war on a subjective concept is to put it bluntly, mind-boggling. Saying someone "deseves to die" for actions for which no-one yet fully understands the reasons behind, is rather drastic and ungentlemanly don't you think?

[thaimee]

''Saying someone "deseves to die" for actions for which no-one yet fully understands the reasons behind, is rather drastic and ungentlemanly don't you think?''

I believe that members on the forum who believe this and that, should understand that anyone who constitutes a threat to our beloved kingdom and it's peaceful ways ought to realise and should realise that the consequences would and have been historically drastic.

The scaremongers who exist here who prefer to stay out of view say this and that without understanding Asian mentality should be considering a self common sense policy of basics is basics. Purely put this is Asia my friends and if you don't like it get lump it.

Thaimee.

[kurgen]

If you live by the sword then you die by the sword , so be it.

How long before someone stuffs their bodywarmer with enough weed killer to wipe out all the weeds in their garden

[Nam Kao]

Nice shooting Thailand !

This is big news in the US. Tourism will go down the toilet

[snowleopard]

WOW,,,, These guys must have been trained realy well,,,, Cause the pictures I saw showed guys shot off of motercycles and they still had the knives in their hands,,,, now thats good training....

Could those machetes have been planted in the corpses' hands for effect like smoking guns are planted by cops after extrajudicial killings?

"Drive-by knifings" are no match for sharp-shooters with assault rifles!

It's like shooting fish in a barrel!

Snowleopard.

[Moving]

Don't bring a knife to a gun fight!!

112 Killed in South Thailand Gunbattles

By ALISA TANG

The Associated Press

Wednesday, April 28, 2004; 11:45 AM

PATTANI, Thailand - Police gunned down machete-wielding militants who stormed security outposts in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south Wednesday, killing at least 112 people in one of the bloodiest days in the Southeast Asian kingdom.

The attackers were mostly teenagers - some wearing red head bands - and were intent on stealing weapons. They were poorly armed and apparently unaware that police had been tipped off in advance and were lying in wait for them.

The eight hours of mayhem ended when police fired tear gas and rocket-propelled grenades into a mosque, killing 32 militants who, witnesses said, were sheltering inside after running away from an earlier battle.

"Maybe the insurgents underestimated the preparedness of security forces. They used machetes to steal guns and when we fought back they suffered big losses," Yala Gov. Boonyasit Suwanarat said.

It was the worst violence in a region that has seen dozens of people killed in near-daily attacks this year. The government has blamed Islamic separatists seeking for decades to carve out a homeland in the Muslim-majority south of this predominantly Buddhist country.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the killings would halt the simmering separatist struggle in the Muslim-dominated south.

"After this, it will be hard for them to do these kind of bad things again," Thaksin said.

The raids were linked to a Jan. 4 attack on a military camp in the nearby province of Narathiwat, which triggered an upsurge of violence in the area this year, Thaksin said. Four soldiers were killed and hundreds of guns stolen in that raid.

"The masterminds of this movement were in such high spirits after they raided the army camp, and they believed that they could do it again. But they were wrong," Thaksin said.

He denied the attackers had connections to international terrorists, saying "most of the insurgents are youths from the southern provinces."

The attacks began before dawn, when insurgents stormed more than 15 police bases, village defense posts and district offices in a bid to steal weapons, said Lt. Gen. Proong Bunphandung, the chief of police for the south.

However, security forces had been tipped off and were waiting for the assailants, most of whom carried only machetes, Proong said.

Television news reports showed the bodies of insurgents lying in pools of blood, some of them in front of police stations clasping machetes and wearing camouflage.

Gunfire could be heard in the background as armored personnel carriers drove down deserted village streets and commandos ran through the forest. Policemen and soldiers, carrying automatic rifles, ran across streets and ditches.

Army chief Gen. Chaiyasith Shinawatra said 107 insurgents were killed and 17 were arrested. He said three policemen and two soldiers also were killed.

No group claimed responsibility for the highly coordinated assault.

Nimu Magajae, deputy chairman of Yala Islamic Council, said he was told the attackers were drug addicts.

"This is the first time in my life that I have seen so many Muslim youths killed in one day. But if they were drug addicts we do not regard them as religious followers," he told The Associated Press.

Nimu demanded that authorities hand over the dead so they could be buried within 24 hours, in line with Islamic custom.

Many parts of the region have been under martial law for months. Security was tightened Wednesday along the border with neighboring Malaysia, which in the past has denied allegations of harboring militants.

Thaksin said the attackers arrived at the target point with brand new motorcycles, which he said proved they were funded by "influential figures, including politicians and drug gangsters."

Muslims have long complained of discrimination in jobs and education in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat - Thailand's only Muslim majority provinces.

They also say their culture and language are being subjugated by the Buddhist Thais, and cite as an example the state schools, which teach in Thai language. Muslims in the south speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay, spoken in neighboring Malaysia.

The alienation caused by the central government's policies has been the source of a decades-old separatist struggle, which subsided after an amnesty in the late 1980s before exploding with the army arsenal raid in January.

The military also crushed pro-democracy uprisings in 1973, 1976 and 1991, killing dozens

[Mai Krap]

Thaksin said the attackers arrived at the target point with brand new motorcycles, which he said proved they were funded by "influential figures, including politicians and drug gangsters."

What does this say about the guys driving brand new MERCEDEES and BMWs????????

[bina]

BEWARE when u talk war: i've been to two funerals of 18 yr olds here who died in war; my best friend here is a muslim thai woman from an anti israeli very muslim family, who married a religious jew-- i kid u not... now she's sending her kid back to thailand. When i was on the plane from bangkok to tel aviv my daughter sent me a sms that a kid in her class was blown up on the bus that she usually takes... for the three weeks i was in thailand i didnt have to jump every time i heard a motorbike backfire; i kept stopping at entrances to stores automatically opening my pocket book for the guard (what guard?) to check; my thai friends who have been here are used to that ....after twenty years of war, i'm no longer politically correct... ive seen YOUTHS throwing rocks to injure and kill and i've seen 8 yr olds imitating their older brothers w/o really knowing why they are throwing the rocks.... thats how it starts... being nice and understanding does not work with fundamentalist muslim groups

the israeli lurker

[Johpa]

my best friend here is a muslim thai woman from an anti israeli very muslim family, who married a religious jew-- i kid u not...

Yea, I read about that couple in the late, and not so great, Odzer's book Patpong Sisters. The marriage between the Israeli and the Muslim girl from the south was one of the best parts of her gonzo journalism on Thailand.

Happy Trails

Johpa

[Rhys]

SAD, Sad, SAD....This was a turkey shoot... The Army will now strut around, with even a more upturned now.

We shall never know..what the intel on the situation was like. A mixture of business interest and "THIS IS THAILAND.

Yet what does this say, when the masses rise with primative weapons, against M-16As....This is only a small gambit..More comming soon.. Lock and Load

Stay Frosty

[otherstuff1957]

One thing that puzzles me, remember those guns stolen from the Army a couple of months ago? Where are they? Why were these kids attacking with machetes?

My best guess is that these kids were wannabe's who were trying to imitate another group.

[Goat Roper]

Does anyone remember the predictions made by two or three quite famous Thai Ma Doos(Dr. Looks ) and posted in the Bangkok Post last November? This is scary stuff, it seems they all predicted Dear CEO and his government would face many hardships in 2004, as I remember the month of April 2004 was predicted as a super-bad month. I for one am going to quit making jokes about these "Dr. Looks."

[dkstoney]

For Thai's the unrest it has to be said is utter outrage and for muslims demeaning of their religion and culture if only a handful are perpetrators.

You know, if only a handful of Muslims down there are participating in the "unrest" or whatever slick euphemism you'd like to brandish, then it's up to the rest of them to bring their brothers and sisters back into the fold to seek out alternative methods of communication and attention-getting. If they are unable to do that, then the Thai government has every right to lay them out. No matter what their current plight may be, that handful is behaving criminally and endangering the safety and the dignity of everyone in the area and also reifying the despicable image that most Westerners are learning to keep close to their hearts--whether it is a correct conception or not. The Muslims are demeaning their beliefs enough on their own. Since they cannot control the individuals who go out and set fires, kill monks (!), stateworkers, police, village headmen, and women and children, they are weak. If they support it, they are perverse. Maybe if they practiced a little more what they preach, there would be some modicum of sensibility available, but they don't--so there's not. Violence begets violence. We have even seen that the Buddhists will push back when they are pushed too far.

[dkstoney]

Come to think of it, geez, all they have to do is hop across the border no more than an hour away and they'd be in happy land. They can live their peaceful Muslim existence to the grave without any problems, but NO, they gotta be here--where they're not wanted. It's not like they're African-Americans and it would be a bit of a hardship to get back to Africa. They could all go in minivans. Heck, send 'em back in style on a doubledecker with free cocktails and ham sandwiches. I'll even help foot part of the bill. Anyone interested in taking up a collection to help our lost and wayward Muslim brothers to find their way back home to Malaysia?