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| Southeast Asia |
| Gunaratna warns south Thailand could be next Mindanao |
| 2006-04-24 |
| A counterterrorism expert on Saturday warned that southern Thailand may become a breeding ground for terrorists as Muslim insurgents there shift from a nationalist to a more jihadist orientation. "Our prediction is Thailand will become like Mindanao in the next five years unless the Thai government takes decisive steps to control and contain the local insurgency," Rohan Gunaratna, head of the Singapore-based International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, told an international counterterrorism conference. Mindanao in the southern Philippines is home to the country's largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the brutal Muslim extremist group, Abu Sayyaf. Militants from the Southeast Asian Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah also operate and maintain a training camp in the area with the support of the MILF and Abu Sayyaf, Gunaratna said. The MILF, which is in peace talks with the Philippine government, denies any ties to Jemaah Islamiyah. Gunaratna told reporters that the conflict in southern Thailand is changing because other Islamic militant organizatilved. Insurgents there are increasingly talking of external assistance and have even launched an Arabic Web site, he said, adding that the Thai government's response has been inadequate. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |