Six troops killed, four injured in Pattani bomb attack
By The Nation

 

 

PATTANI: -- Six troops were killed and four others were injured when Muslim insurgents detonated a roadside bomb to ambush them Monday.

 

Police said the attack occurred at 11:45 am on a rural road in Moo 5 village in Tambon Namdam in Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30318471

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-19

Roadside bombs kills six soldiers in south Thailand

 

PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - A roadside bomb planted by suspected Muslim insurgents killed six Thai soldiers and wounded four on Monday in the southern province of Pattani, police said.

 

A decades-old separatist insurgency in of predominantly BuddhistThailand's largely ethnic Malay, Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has killed more than 6,500 people since 2004.

 

The latest bomb was planted on dirt road and exploded as soldiers on a routine patrol were passing, said district police chief Colonel Pruk Liangsukwho.

 

"It is likely the work of violent groups in the area because this area is a red area," Pruk told reporters, referring to areas with higher levels of separatist violence.

 

An army spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

 

As with most violence in Thailand's deep south, there was no claim of responsibility.

 

Violence has simmered in the three southern provinces for decades and intensified in 2004 but it rarely spills out of the deep south.

 

A car-bomb attack last month wounded dozens outside a supermarket in Pattani town.

 

Violence in the south typically rises during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year ends on Sunday.

 

Thailand's military government has, since 2015, held talks brokered by Malaysia, aimed at ending the violence the process has largely stalled.

 

(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-20

Attack killing six soldiers linked to Ramadan violence
By THE NATION

 

 

PATTANI: -- A ROADSIDE bomb killed six troops and injured four others as they were on patrol in the restive South yesterday, Internal Security Operation Command (Isoc) officers said, adding that a spike in insurgent violence was expected before the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Saturday.

 

The roadside bomb went off at 11.30am as 10 Pattani Task Force soldiers rode in a pickup to patrol Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district. The powerful explosion completely destroyed the vehicle the soldiers were riding in.

Army Chief Chalermchai Sitthisart expressed his condolences to families of the soldiers and praised their sacrifice for the sake of peace in the predominantly Muslim region, according to Isoc spokesman Pramote Promin.

 

Police had collected evidence at the scene and would use forensic techniques to identify the suspected insurgents and bring them to justice, he said. 

 

The attack took place as soldiers have sought to assure the security of the region as the Muslim majority performs religious activities during the holy month, he said. 

 

Insurgents wanted to create trouble in the region to disturb the public during Ramadan, said Isoc deputy spokesman Yutthanam Petmuang. 

 

The soldiers who were killed would get posthumous promotions from the Army and their families would receive aid, he said. 

 

Master Sergeant First Class Somprach Sriwaja would be posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel and his family would receive Bt3 million while the five slain privates would be promoted to Master Sergeant First Class and their families would receive Bt2 million, he said. 

 

The decades-old, low-intensity rebellion in the deep South erupted in renewed violence in early 2004, with more than 6,800 people killed since then, while authorities in Bangkok have struggled to restore peace. Violence takes place almost every day but no single insurgent group has taken responsibility. 

 

As a result, the military government’s attempts to engage in peace talks have faltered as the militants responsible for the violence on the ground are not represented by a coherent, publicly acknowledged leadership that could engage in negotiations.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30318523

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-20

Give them what they want, enough slaughtered and no end to it, Thai borders have been in substantial change for the last 150 years anyway.

Out on patrol in a war zone in the back of a pickup and it was only recently that the army disclosed that the new Chinese apc's were to be based in the north of Thailand.

Callous disregard for the lives of those most at risk.

Give them what they want, if that would end it ok, but will it end there, Im not sure it will.

Col Pramote Phrom-in, a spokesman for Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 Forward Command, said just last week that the Pattani Big C blast showed that the insurgents could not enter ‘safe areas’ in core economic centres anymore, so they had opted for an easy target outside the safe areas.  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30318377

The Thung Yang Daeng district is not one of the safe zones. Hardly any comfort to the injured and killed troops that the insurgents opted for an easy target outside the safe zone. The military shows it really has no overall strategic plan that serves a political resolution. But not surprising when military doctrine should be a tool for political objectives and not visa versa.

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Out on patrol in a war zone in the back of a pickup and it was only recently that the army disclosed that the new Chinese apc's were to be based in the north of Thailand.

Callous disregard for the lives of those most at risk.

 

Ordinary soldiers, especially conscripts, are cheaper and easier to replace than APCs. So are pickup trucks.

7 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Give them what they want, enough slaughtered and no end to it, Thai borders have been in substantial change for the last 150 years anyway.

I can understand where you are coming from, but unfortunately it would not be the end of it. In time they would want to creep farther North, East, West, to spread the name of Islam, as is their teaching and indoctrination.....

There is plenty of soldiers trying to turn pattaya into a happy zone . Maybe send them down south .


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There goes Thailand's safety report rating down the same old drain again ...

Out on patrol in a war zone in the back of a pickup and it was only recently that the army disclosed that the new Chinese apc's were to be based in the north of Thailand.

Callous disregard for the lives of those most at risk.

If the political pressure cooker which could very well result in the North and Northeast goes pop, those APCs will be needed.

 

Some influential lives might be at risk...