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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai south hit by violence |
| 2009-06-14 |
| [Straits Times] SUSPECTED Muslim insurgents yesterday killed a number of people and wounded several others in separate incidents across southern Thailand, the latest in a series of attacks that started with a massacre at a mosque at the beginning of last week. The latest attacks include a bomb attack on a bus, a drive-by shooting, an ambush and a bomb explosion at a grocery store, police reports said. Violence has occurred daily in southern Thailand since last Monday's killing of 10 Muslims at a mosque in neighbouring Narathiwat province. The Thai authorities said the attacks are aimed at igniting sectarian conflict between Muslims and Buddhists in Thailand's three southern-most provinces, where the five-year-old insurgency has killed more than 3,400 people. Two suspected insurgents riding a motorcycle hurled a bomb at a bus yesterday, killing one passenger and wounding 13 others in downtown Yala city, said police Lieutenant-Colonel Wattanachai Chantimangkul. In Yala province's restive Bannang Sata district, a husband and wife were shot dead in an ambush while riding their motorcycle, said Colonel Sompien Eksomya. In Narathiwat province, a village headman's wife was killed and another person wounded while riding a motorcycle to a market, said Lt-Col Jamlong Suwalak. The assailants were also on a motorcycle. In another part of the province, six people were slightly injured when a 1kg homemade bomb exploded in a grocery store, said Captain Attawut Petchkaew. He said two teenagers pretended to look for drinks before planting the bomb, hidden in a metal box, near the freezer. The explosive went off shortly after they left, he said. Rumours continued to circulate that Monday's mosque attack was masterminded by the Thai authorities, something strongly denied by the government, which has stepped up security measures in the mainly Muslim south. The shadowy insurgents are generally believed to be fighting to carve out an independent Muslim state from the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 ION VARIOUS > AL-QAEDA LINKED ABU SAYYAF MILITANTS KILL FIVE PHILIPPINE MARINES IN NEW VIOLENCE. * WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC FOREIGN MINISTRY:CHINA IS WILLING TO ENGAGE IN NEW TALKS WITH INDIA OVER ARUNUSCHAL PRADESH LINE OF DEMARCATION. Final Borders??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-06-14 23:51 |