| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| JI may be planning attack in Thailand |
| 2006-01-11 |
| JEMAAH Islamiah-linked terrorists in southern Thailand are believed to be planning to transform their insurgency from attacks against the Thai state to bombings of Western tourists. US terrorism expert Zachary Abuza has told The Australian that the Muslim insurgency could spread from the hinterland to beach resorts, such as Phuket, frequented by Western tourists. Dr Abuza will tell the Foreign Correspondents Club in Bangkok tonight there are also reasons to believe that JI may become involved in such a plan being hatched by Thai insurgents. The two-year insurgency, which has killed more than a thousand people, has until this point been dominated by attacks against symbols of the Thai state, such as police stations, and dominant religion, such as Buddhist temples. Attacks against Western tourists would mark a turning point in Thailand's war on terror, and Dr Abuza said the shift could be being driven by JI's sense of Islamist obligation to join battle with fellow Muslims. "An attack on an out-of-area soft target is being considered as an option. They have not ruled it out," he said yesterday. "They would target Phuket because, like Bali, it is a soft target that would severely impact the economy and drive away foreigners in droves." The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued general travel warnings for Thailand, advising travellers to "exercise a high degree of caution ... because of the high threat of terrorist attack". "We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against a range of targets, including places frequented by foreigners," the DFAT website warns. But the threats have been more specific, with past intelligence acknowledging that the areas of Phuket, Pattong Pattaya, Bangkok and the island of Samui could be targeted. Another terrorism expert, Rohan Gunaratna, also warned this week that terrorists were likely to attack Bangkok within the year. Neil Fergus, the chief executive of Intelligence Risks, said tourist spots including beach resorts had been broadly considered as targets, but Bangkok remained the biggest problem. Although security in Thailand has been dramatically improved in many areas, Mr Fergus said it would be difficult for any authority to protect expatriate and bar areas frequented by tourists. In the past 10 days, 19 people - five of them policemen - have been killed in attacks in southern Thailand. While a raid by militants two years ago on a weapons depot in Narathiwat province is generally regarded as the start of the Muslim insurgency, Dr Abuza said the violence had been spreading, albeit slowly, for several years. Dr Abuza said that while Thai authorities claimed to have arrested 190 insurgents responsible for conducting or planning operations in the past two years, very few of the insurgency's leaders had been picked up. The Government has also consistently denied the trouble is part of any international terrorist network or that JI is involved. Dr Abuza has warned that there are insurgent leaders who want to take terrorism to the next level, and they could be helped by JI or whatever form al-Qaeda might take, by attacking places such as Bangkok or Phuket. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 JEMAAH Islamiah-linked terrorists in southern Thailand are believed to be planning to transform their insurgency from attacks against the Thai state to bombings of Western tourists. The end of sex-tourism? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-01-11 00:48 |