[Shadow_Group] Thailand Braces for Worse Violence in the South

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Thailand Braces for Worse Violence in the South
Fri Nov 5, 2004 01:22 AM ET 
By Trirat Puttajanyawong 

FROM:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6724363<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6724363>
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Muslim separatists are
intensifying violence in southern Thailand in hopes of
a brutal government response that would boost foreign
support for their aims, Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra said on Friday. 

The separatists, who have been targetting Buddhists in
the largely Muslim region since 85 Muslim protesters
died last week, were trying to intimidate non-Muslims
into leaving the area and attract recruits, he told
reporters. 

"They want to stir our anger, prompt us to use brute
force and spread the news. Then their sympathizers
overseas will throw in their support," he said. 

"We know what they've been doing and what they've
planned to do," he said, but stopped short of saying
who was behind violence in the largely Malay-speaking
region which erupted in January with an army camp raid
in which around 300 assault rifles were stolen. 

At least 15 people, most of them Buddhists, have been
killed by militants since last week's deaths of 85
protesters, 78 of whom suffocated or were crushed
after being crammed into army trucks for a long
journey into detention. 

One of the victims was a Buddhist monk who was shot
and severely wounded after a religious ceremony in
nearby Songkhla on Thursday and died later in
hospital, police said. 

Another was a Muslim Marine guarding a Buddhist temple
who was shot and killed by suspected militants. 

Armed with M-16 assault rifles, the gunmen attacked
the temple compound in a Buddhist village in
Narathiwat province's Ruesoh district around midnight
on Thursday and killed the 22-year-old Muslim private
in a short firefight, police said. 

More than 450 people -- mostly security men and
officials -- have been killed in the raid on the army
camp in the remote south bordering Malaysia in which
four soldiers were killed. 

The mainly Buddhist government in Bangkok is showing
few signs of getting any closer to coming up with
policies or answers to resolve the unrest.

Thaksin said the unrest may prevent him from joining
re-elected President Bush and other Asia-Pacific
leaders at a summit in Chile this month. 
"If the situation is still unabated, I won't go,"
Thaksin said when asked whether he would attend the
November 20-21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) summit in Santiago. 

"I am obliged to take care of the situation," said
Thaksin, host of the 23-member APEC summit in Bangkok
last year and who sees himself as the emerging leader
of Southeast Asia. 

He was likely to send Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh to Santiago instead, a government
official told Reuters. 

The killings in the south prompted a group of 200
Buddhist villagers to demonstrate at the Narathiwat
provincial government headquarters on Friday,
demanding security guarantees. 

They also demanded the return of Lieutenant-General
Pisan Wattanwongkeeree, suspended from his post as
commander of the southern army while a
government-appointed panel investigates last week's 85
deaths. 

The investigators have been given a month to determine
what exactly happened on Oct. 25 at Narathiwat's Tak
Bai police station as protesters demanded the release
of six villagers accused of handing government-issued
weapons to militants. 

Police appear to be carrying out their own
investigation. 

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. 



 



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