NARATHIWAT, Thailand - Seven people were killed in a brazen series of bombings and shootings by suspected militants in ThailandÂ’s Muslim-majority southern provinces, police said on Thursday. The attacks included the bombing of a local officialÂ’s pick-up truck, another bombing on a military convoy escorting a teacher, and a spate of daytime shootings, police said.One soldier was killed and five others injured when a roadside bomb exploded on Thursday as they escorted a teacher home from school in Chanae district of Narathiwat province. The 15 kilogramme bomb that killed sergeant Therdsak Auisuwan was inside a fire extinguisher that exploded as the military pick-up truck passed by, destroying the vehicle, police said.
| The brave, brave Lions of Islam™ strike again. |
Also in Narathiwat, two militants opened fire in broad daylight on a gas station, leaving two people in critical condition, police said.
Meanwhile, four others were killed in attacks in nearby Pattani province. Police said one of them, 41-year-old Abduloh Gasor, was a former militant who had defected to the government. In another attack, police sergeant Suthin Nakpradit was shot dead on Thursday as he headed to a local market in Pattani district. And Wednesday evening, former village chief Chuae Thongaram, 63, was stabbed to death at his rubber plantation while wood trader Yaya Kabo, 42, was shot to death in separate attacks.
Despite the flaring violence, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he believed the unrest that has left more than 1,000 dead since January 2004 would end this year. “The situation in the south is getting better because many well-respected figures have travelled to the area recently,” Thaksin told reporters, referring to a series of visits by senior politicians.
| Oh. And here I thought the violence would end because the Thais had caught and strung up the ones responsible. |
