Suspected Islamic insurgents shot and killed a local politician Friday as Thailand's prime minister admitted his government has been unable to do anything to stop the escalating violence in the Muslim-dominated south. Daoh Kareeuma, 56, an elected official of a village administration in Yala province, was ambushed by two gunmen as he arrived home after going round his village on a motorcycle, police Capt. Jirasak Wichaicharoenying said.
The death raised to 59 the number of people killed this year in the almost daily cycle violence gripping the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, the only Muslim majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist country. The government says the culprits are Islamic separatists, who have targeted policemen, village officials and others belonging to the Buddhist majority. Also Friday, two gunmen shot and seriously injured the husband of a woman who works in a village administration office, said police Sub. Lt. Ith Boonrith. The government's increasing desperation was evident in Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's most recent comments on the issue.``We seem to know everything about what the bad guys are doing but we cannot do anything to solve even a single problem,'' he said Thursday. ``Troubles in the south have affected the country's image very, very, very much.''
| Tourist board is on heavy meds. |
He also complained that the insurgents easily go across the border to neighbouring Malaysia because they hold dual citizenship. Thaksin has said he plans to visit Malaysia on April 9 to meet with his counterpart Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to press for cooperation in tracking down the insurgents. Malaysia has not confirmed the visit.``Villages on the Malaysian border are safe havens ... It's easy for them. They killed people here and went to Malaysia and openly held meetings about breaking away'' from Thailand, Thaksin said.
| Kind of like Pakland, ain't it? |
He said he was not making accusations against Malaysia but only asking for their cooperation. Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said Friday the government will hold a meeting of security officials on Monday to prepare evidence of the insurgents' Malaysian incursions, which Thaksin would present to Abdullah.
| Which he will politely receive, and then ignore. |
Thailand had successfully dealt with a decades-old separatist insurgency in the area in the late 1980s. But it resurfaced two years ago before gaining strength this year to pose the country's biggest domestic security challenge.
| In the 80's it was just the locals, most likely. Now they are getting support from Worldwide Jihadi, Inc. |
Fears of a major attack on civilian targets during the Thai New Year festival, known as Songkran, April 13-15, have been raised since armed raiders stole a huge quantity of explosives from a quarry in Yala on Tuesday. On Thursday, officials ordered all 10 quarries in southern Thailand to hand their rock-blasting explosives to the army for safekeeping. Also Thursday, another large unprotected cache was found stored in an abandoned marble mine.
Meanwhile, killings, torture and kidnappings of residents in southern Thailand by government agents have fueled the deadly violence now sweeping the Muslim-majority region, Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang said Friday. Chaturon travelled to the restive south and admitted that residents, Muslim leaders and civil officials told him they were angry over years of mistreatment at the hands of the government, and that the region's mounting frustration eventually bubbled over into violence this year. ``The main cause of the problem has been government officials who are alleged to have tortured and killed people which has fueled the problem of terrorism and separatism,'' he told reporters in Bangkok.
Chaturon was sent by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on a fact-finding mission to the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat which have been rocked by attacks that have left at least 55 people dead this year. Muslim leaders in the south have long complained about the central authorities' handling of southern issues including the unrest, and said heavy handed searches or interrogations, unwarranted detentions and arrests have fueled animosity and anger.
| "Yeah, we be innocent victims! We wouldn't have any violence if you would just give us our own caliphate, er, homeland!" |
Chaturon did not elaborate on the apparent extrajudicial killings or torture, but when asked if politicians were linked to the actions Chaturon said he believed some were involved in illegal activities ``from time to time''.
Last month a Thai court approved an arrest warrant for Najmuddin Umar, a Muslim MP and member of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party who faced charges of treason and separatism for his role in a January 4 raid on a Narathiwat arms depot which killed four soldiers. Chaturon said government was to convene an extraordinary meeting next Monday in which he expected to present his trip's findings to Thaksin.``The whole policy towards aiming and solving problems in the south will be overhauled in line with public suggestions and the resolution will be immediately implemented,'' he said.
| In other words, you're going to talk about it and pass a feel-good resolution. |
On Saturday a bomb blast in the popular Thai tourist border town of Sungai Kolok along the Malaysian border injured 28 people, including several Malaysian tourists. An approved budget of 12 billion baht (US$303 million) in assistance to the beleaguered region was put on hold after the Saturday blast, but Chaturon said it was imperative that the money be allowed to flow. Deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who oversees security, said Monday's meeting would map out measures to cope with possible attacks by militants during the traditional Thai new year in mid-April. Thaksin has admitted the situation in the south was escalating, particularly after the theft on Tuesday of a huge amount of explosive materials from a quarry in Narathiwat province which borders Malaysia.
| Better find it before it finds you. |
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