Posted on 02/18/2007 3:49:19 PM PST by Islander7
At least four people have been killed and 49 injured during a series of co-ordinated explosions, arson attacks and shootings in Thailand's troubled Muslim-majority south.
Late on Sunday, 15 explosions injured 26 people and killed one in Yala province, one of three southern provinces bordering Malaysia, while in nearby Narathiwat province, one person was killed and 23 injured in seven bombings.
A number of arson attacks and blasts also took place Pattani province, one of which temporarily cut the provincial capital's electricity.
Two villagers in Pattani were also shot dead in an ambush Sunday night.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Thailand's Muslim-majority south since the latest separatist campaign began in January 2004.
Sunday's attacks hit as Thailand was celebrating the Lunar New Year.
'Under control'
"There are efforts to create chaos and make the news worldwide," Colonel Acar Tiproch, the national army spokesman, said.
"They use the festival time to show that there is not peace in the three provinces in the south."
He said the army now had control of the situation.
The bombings across the three troubled provinces began at about 7pm local time (1200 GMT).
Karaoke bars hit
In Yala town, police said nine blasts hit karaoke bars, petrol stations, hotels, a golf course and a cinema, while in a remote area of the province one person was killed in one of six blasts.
Panu Uthairat, Pattani's governor, told Thai television that three blasts there had hit the power plant.
A blackout ensued in Pattani town, but he reassured residents that 95 per cent of the supply had been restored.
In Narathiwat, seven bombings - the majority of which hit karaoke bars - started at 7:30pm, police said, killing one.
Fighters in Narathiwat also set fire to a central mosque and two schools.
School set afire
In Yala, a primary school was set alight. Teachers and schools are frequently targeted because fighters view them as symbols of Bangkok's effort to impose Buddhist Thai culture on the region.
"The militants show of force is trying to challenge the power of the authorities," Nithon Naratitakkul, Narathiwat's deputy governor, said.
"The pattern of the attacks is orchestrated across the three provinces, and they attacked at almost exactly the same time."
Police advised people in the three southern provinces to stay at home.
Post-coup surge
Violence along Thailand's southern border with Malaysia has surged since the military seized power in Bangkok in a bloodless coup in September, despite a raft of peace measures introduced by Surayud Chulanont, the army-installed premier.
In the latest gesture, Thailand said on Friday that it was willing to hold talks with separatists in the south with the help of neighbouring Malaysia, reversing an earlier statement denying such plans.
The three Muslim-majority provinces were once an autonomous sultanate, until the region was annexed by Thailand a century ago.
Separatist unrest has erupted periodically ever since.
Looks like those Baptists are at it again!
I won't say it...
>> anyone see anything about in the MSM here? <<
CNN Japan has it on the crawl. No real reporting, though.
Thailand?!
"In Yala town, police said nine blasts hit karaoke bars,"
See the news isn't all bad.
Perhaps that should be changed to read "because of a raft of peace measures." Nothing provokes Muslims to violence more than peace talks, because they take them as signs of weakness.
I said it this morning in another thread and it got hit by Mods...
There's a website out there that keeps track of all Islamic attacks worldwide. I think it's called religionofpeace.com
Looks like that "let's talk with the Islamic terroists!" policy is working
out swimmingly!
(/sarc)
Thaksin was always accused of taking a too "heavy-handed" approach and since he was ousted in the coup in September, the violence in the south his risen greatly.
And what is Surayud's primary concern? Confiscating satellites from a Singapore company that were bought in a legal, legitimate business deal.
Nothing like having the good old Bangkok cronies back in power (/sarc)
Thank you Owen Kellogg for the ping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.