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Southeast Asia | |
Thai krazed killers are separatists with ties to JI, not bandits | |
2004-01-07 | |
A well-trained separatist group linked to extremists fighting for a regional Pan Islamic state was behind the attack on an army barracks and widespread arson last Sunday, the government’s new security adviser said yesterday. ``This kind of well-organised attack on the Fourth Army’s barracks was unprecedented,’’ Gen Kitti Rattanachaya said. ``This is the worst attack they have ever made on our security forces. One should not underestimate their strength by playing down the incident. The situation will become much worse if we do not correctly deal with the problem.’’ Gen Kitti, former commander of the southern-based Fourth Army, maintained the perpetrators were not normal ``gun-trafficking bandits’’ as believed by some senior government officials. They were members of a ``well-established organisation’’ fighting to establish an Islamic state in the southernmost area.
Looks like I called that one right, it was the Malaysia connection that determined that much. The KMM is the military wing of PAS, the main Malaysian Islamist opposition party. ``How could a rag-tag bunch of armed men without special training make a daring attack on an army camp and simultaneously set our schools ablaze,’’ said Gen Kitti. ``It was well planned and organised,’’ he said but added he was expressing his own opinion. ``I have just made my views known, the other side of a coin,’’ said the general. | |
Posted by:Dan Darling |