Posted on 11/17/2005 3:33:03 AM PST by ncountylee
BANGKOK, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Separatist violence has killed more than 1,000 people in Thailand's Muslim south and the number of dead in the second half of this year almost doubled from the first half, police figures showed on Thursday.
By Wednesday, 1,016 people had been killed in the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat and four districts of nearby Songkhla province since violence erupted on Jan. 4 last year, a Reuters calculation based on a police record showed.
Of the total, 511 people were killed between Jan. 1 and Nov. 16 this year, according to a police record read to Reuters by telephone.
The monthly toll in the first five months of 2005 varied between 34 and 38, but jumped to between 53 and 67 from June to October. The record showed 38 people had been killed so far in November.
One of the most brutal attacks on civilians occurred early on Wednesday morning, when assailants killed nine members of one family, including an 8-month-old baby, shooting some of them at point-blank range.
A senior policeman in the region said the violence had intensified since June as separatists wanted to achieve their goal of seizing power this year in the region, an independent sultanate until formally annexed by Bangkok a century ago.
"There are doing everything they can to destroy state power," he said.
Despite the presence of 30,000 troops and police in the region, shootings, bombings and arson attacks on civilian and military targets take place every day.
The predominantly Buddhist government has blamed local mafias, drug dealers and Islamic religious teachers for encouraging Muslim students and youths to wreak havoc, but it has failed to arrest any leading organiser of the violence.
This will be a long and painful struggle.
Force and humiliation are the only two languages the jihadis understand.
No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.
It is a quagmire. What is Thailand's Exit Strategy? I hope their legislative body has passed a non-binding resolution calling for the removal of the majority of Thai forces from Thailand by the end of 2006...
Yawn... here come all the 'death to all muslim' posts...
"Yawn... here come all the 'death to all muslim' posts..."
Yawn...here come all the "you guys wear me out with all the 'death to all muslim' posts". Hey, gotta keep the home team fired up. In case you didn't notice, six of our marines died yesterday for the GWOT. What,...you didn't know there was a war going on? Yeah, some muslim fanatics killed 3000 of our citizens and knocked down a couple buildings a few years ago. Sorry you were awaken from your nap. Pathetic.
...in the piece you read, there is mention of 9 Thais who were slaughtered yesterday. They were a Muslim family who, according to news accounts, were killed for helping the Thai government by being informants. Since you wish to kill all Muslims, I guess you have no problem with their murder?
The head of the Thai Army is a Muslim. He is very well respected and used to be the head of the Thai Army's Special Warfare Command before taking his current assignment. Do you want him dead also?
"Do you want him dead also?"
Oh, I forgot, this thread was about killing all muslims. even the hero muslims, in fact start with the children muslims. give me a break. you can pick and choose your nose, but you don't get off so easy in picking and choosing your pet peeves, pal. go back to sleep.
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