| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai Buddhist beheaded as turmoil continues |
| 2009-06-15 |
| Terrorists The body and severed head of the rubber tapper was found in a house next to a plantation in Yala's Than To district. That added to more than 40 beheadings in the region since violence erupted in 2004. The school janitor was shot dead by unknown gunmen while travelling to work on his motorcycle in Pattani, police said. Attacks on Buddhists have increased since a shooting last week at a Narathiwat mosque, where unknown gunmen killed 10 Muslims at prayer and wounded 12 more. Residents blamed security forces for the bloody attack, which the military said was the work of shadowy rebels seeking to cause sectarian rifts. A labourer from northeastern Thailand was shot dead two days later and a note left at the scene said: 'You kill our innocents, so we kill your people.' A Buddhist monk was killed and another critically injured on Friday when they were gunned down as they collected alms in Yala. A report by Washington-based Nonviolence International released on Monday said the government's decision to arm Buddhist civilians and deregulate gun sales was deepening rifts between Muslims and the region's Buddhist minority. The study said the policy had 'heightened resentment among the Malay Muslim population towards the Thai state and raised the feeling of injustice and discrimination'. In a weekly televised address on Sunday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajvia said development aid rather than tough security measures would be used to tackle the unrest, with increased investment in the region's fisheries and rubber and palm oil industries. Meanwhile: Small investors in the troubled southern province of Yala have already exited the province because of frequent attacks carried out by insurgents while buses in the provincial seat have stopped services for an indefinite period after Saturday’s incident in which a passenger was killed and 14 others wounded. A Senate committee responsible for resolving issues and carrying out development of the southern border provinces Sunday met with private business operators in Yala and were briefed on the current situation in the province. Nivet Sirichai, who heads the Yala Tourism Club, told the meeting that the current economic situation in the province is very bad due to the high risks resulting from daily violence. Most small investors have already left the province, leaving the major ones to continue doing businesses. In another development, Yala’s passenger pickup trucks – songtaos -- on Sunday opted to suspend services to a village where a bomb was thrown into a bus on Saturday, killing one passenger and wounding 14. Police said the bomb was thrown into the bus by an unidentified passenger on a motorcycle. Witnesses said the duo fled to a nearby Muslim religious school after the incident. As of Sunday, five bomb victims, including a 12-year-old girl, continue receiving treatment at a hospital in the province. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 [funky skunk has been pooplisted.] |
| Posted by: funky skunk 2009-06-15 09:18 |