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| Southeast Asia | ||
| Thailand: PM Announces 'D-Day' Against Muslim Rebels | ||
| 2005-11-09 | ||
| Bangkok, 9 Nov. (AKI) - As the violence in Thailand's hree southernmost provinces shows no sign of abating, prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced an impending âD-Dayâ against the rebels. In the last 24 hours, Muslim insurgents have attacked Yala Provincial Hall and a series of other minor targets, while Bangkok has announced the killing of Hasueming Jarong, a leading member of the Pattani Mujahideen, one of the groups fighting for an independent Islamic state comprising Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that the government has prepared a large scale offensive against the rebels to be launched in the next couple of days. âWe will launch a D-Day to solve problems in the southernmost provinces. All measures have already been planned. We will no longer be on the defensive,'' he said on Tuesday night. A source said the so-called D-Day operation in the 'Deep South', as the three provinces are collectively known, would be launched after 9 November. He did not elaborate.
Government buildings and officials, together with policemen, soldiers, state school teachers and Buddhist monks, have been on the receiving end of more than 2,500 acts of violence that have taken place in the three provinces in the last 22 months. These have left over one thousand people dead and brought the economy to a standstill. In a separate but linked development, the government has identified one of the rebels killed in an exchange of fire Monday night as Hasueming Jarong. Jarong is considered one of the leaders of the Mujahideen Islam Pattani, one of the groups fighting for an Islamic state in southern Thailand that would be independent from Buddhist Bangkok. Among the other Islamic-based groups believed active in the area are the Gerakan Mujahadeen Islam Pattani, the Barison Revolusi Nasional and the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO). The latter group, although split into the New PULO and Old PULU, is considered the largest and the most active. While the presence of a separatist struggle is undeniable, most analysts indicate the real root problem of the unrest is the economic gap between the Muslim south and the rest of Thailand and the power struggles among corrupted officials, renegade solidiers and bandits present in the area.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 D-Day, eh ? I wonder if the tides are right ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2005-11-09 15:03 |
| #2 "We will no longer be on the defensive" Crack some muzzie heads |
| Posted by: shistos shistadogaloo 2005-11-09 09:56 |
| #1 Okay. We'll see. About 22 months late. Get it on. |
| Posted by: Regnad Kcin 2005-11-09 09:49 |