10 KILLED, 13 WOUNDED IN THAI MOSQUE ATTACK
- Six unidentified assailants wearing ski masks opened fire Monday evening on both entrances of a mosque while about 100 Thai Muslims were attending evening prayers in the Cho Ai-rong district of Narathiwat Province, 750 kilometres south of Bangkok.
- The Gunmen opened fire on worshipers, killing at least 10 people and wounding 13, police said.
- The attack by five armed men occurred about 10:30 p.m. local time in a mosque in the village of Ibaye in Narathiwat province.
- "They opened fire indiscriminately at about 50 worshipers inside the mosque," the official said. "Ten people were killed, including the local imam."
- Security officials said they believed gunmen, who fled into nearby woods, were insurgents bent on instigating conflict between Muslims and Buddhists.
- Earlier in the day, suspected insurgents attacked a military unit in the province, killing one villager and seven soldiers.
- A Thai army spokesman on Tuesday denied that authorities were behind a brutal attack on a mosque that left 10 people dead and 13 wounded
- Thailand's southern region has been plagued by insurgency, with more than 3,500 people killed since January 2004.
4000 T0 5000 AKTIVE INSURGENTS IN S.THAILAND
The insurgency in southern Thailand is not about Islamic jihad or the global "war on terror" but is rooted in the desire of southern Muslims to control their land
BANGKOK, Thailand: There are about 4,000 to 5,000 active insurgents in the restive provinces in southern Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Thursday.Despite that, he said a solution to the conflict was not in using force but in creating better understanding with the local people, providing them with better education and quality of life, and justice.
"The militants are still active as they can still carry out violent activities. They even get financial support from other countries. So we have to look at various issues to solve the problem," he told the local media.
Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said not much was being done to solve the unrest that had killed more than 3,500 people since separatists resumed armed conflict in January, 2004 to seek independence for the three Muslim-majority provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
Bangkok has despatched more than 20,000 soldiers to end the turmoil, but faces difficulties as separatist groups involved are using guerilla tactics, especially road side bombings, arson and drive-by shootings.
Militant groups emerged in the 1970s during the armed struggle by ethnic Malays in the three Muslim-majority provinces seeking independence from Thailand.
Peace was restored in the last decade but violence escalated when separatists resumed a campaign of bombings and shootings in January, 2004 after a raid on an army camp.
Courtesy: BERNAMA
"The militants are still active as they can still carry out violent activities. They even get financial support from other countries. So we have to look at various issues to solve the problem," he told the local media.
Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said not much was being done to solve the unrest that had killed more than 3,500 people since separatists resumed armed conflict in January, 2004 to seek independence for the three Muslim-majority provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
Bangkok has despatched more than 20,000 soldiers to end the turmoil, but faces difficulties as separatist groups involved are using guerilla tactics, especially road side bombings, arson and drive-by shootings.
Militant groups emerged in the 1970s during the armed struggle by ethnic Malays in the three Muslim-majority provinces seeking independence from Thailand.
Peace was restored in the last decade but violence escalated when separatists resumed a campaign of bombings and shootings in January, 2004 after a raid on an army camp.
Courtesy: BERNAMA
THAI MUSLIM SEPARATISTS TO CONTINUE FIGHT
A secretive armed group engaged in the bloody separatist conflict in southern Thailand has told Al Jazeera that it will not compromise on seeking independence for the largely Muslim area.Speaking to Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen at a location outside Thailand, a senior member of the National Revolutionary Front Co-ordinate (BRN-C) said the group's main aim was "to fight for independence through an armed revolution".
"Our main aim is not war but we are forced into this because without violence Siam (Thailand) will never stop discriminating against the Malay people in the south," he said on condition of anonymity.
At a secret meeting in Narathiwat province he told our correspondent that the group was prepared to fight until its last breath to free Muslims from what he called the colonization of the Thai south. Earlier this week two civilians were killed and a dozen people, including soldiers, were injured in the latest upsurge in violence in the region.
In one attack in Yala province on Tuesday a group of fighters stormed a food shop and killed the 24-year-old owner, while three of his relatives were wounded by gunfire, police said.
Elsewhere in the same province, a 41-year-old woman whom police said worked as a government informant was shot dead.
Despite some 30,000 Thai troops being deployed in the region, the shootings, grenade attacks and car bombings happen almost daily, with 90 per cent of those killed being civilians.In an interview with Al Jazeera Thailand's prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said his government was working to address "past injustices and grievances" as the way to move forward in the region.
"My government has made it a clear policy that the key to peace in the south is justice," he said.
"It may be the aim of the insurgency to demand a separate state, but my government will prove that the people living in the five provinces are treated fairly, that they will have opportunities, and that they are valued by the Thai government."
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
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