Separatist violence has killed more than 1,000 people in Thailand’s Muslim south and the number of dead in the second half of this year almost doubled from the first half, police figures showed on Thursday. By Wednesday, 1,016 people had been killed in the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat and four districts of nearby Songkhla province since violence erupted on Jan 4 last year, a Reuters calculation based on a police record showed. Of the total, 511 people were killed between Jan 1 and Nov. 16 this year, according to a police record read to Reuters by telephone. The monthly toll in the first five months of 2005 varied between 34 and 38, but jumped to between 53 and 67 from June to October. The record showed 38 people had been killed so far in November. One of the most brutal attacks on civilians occurred early on Wednesday morning, when assailants killed nine members of one family, including an 8-month-old baby, shooting some of them at point-blank range.
| Yeah, that sounds like Muslim unrest, alright. |
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