| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Troops killed in Thai south |
| 2009-03-20 |
| SUSPECTED separatist militants killed four soldiers in an ambush in troubled southern Thailand on Thursday, while a female Muslim rights activist has been shot dead, police said. The rangers were on patrol in a pick-up truck in Pattani province when insurgents triggered a roadside bomb by mobile phone and then opened fire on the vehicle, said police. Separately police announced the death one week ago of activist Laila Paa Daoh Itae, 45 - the fourth member of the same family killed in the Muslim-majority region in the past five years. Laila was ambushed by suspected militants while riding a motorcycle home in restive Yala province last Thursday. She was rushed to hospital but died during the following night. More than 3,600 people have been killed during five years of violence in predominantly Buddhist Thailand's southernmost provinces near the Malaysian border. The rebels regularly target anyone suspected of collaborating with Thai authorities including security forces as well as civilian workers, such as teachers and government officials. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last week approved the deployment of an extra 4,000 soldiers in the deep south, saying they would help improve relations with the local population. Tensions have simmered in the region since Thailand annexed the mainly Malay sultanate in 1902. |
| Posted by:Fred |