Time to go shopping again.
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| Southeast Asia |
| Fire bombs, other blasts rock Thai Deep South |
| 2022-08-19 |
| [BenarNews] Suspected faceless myrmidons carried out a string of arson attacks and other bombings that ripped across Thailand’s Deep South in rapid succession overnight, authorities said Wednesday, in an apparent coordinated assault that left one civilian dead and injured at least seven others, including a 14-year-old boy. The targets of the 17 fire-bombings and other attacks were mostly convenience stores and gas stations in Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala provinces, a senior military official said. The first of the attacks was reported soon before midnight on Tuesday and other blasts followed within the hour and into Wednesday morning. "The perpetrators donned hijabs as they entered the stores. [They] used homemade bombs and Molotov cocktail bombs to attack 17 targets, such as 7-Eleven, Mini Big C [convenience stores], and properties at the Bang Chak gas station," said Pramote Prom-in, deputy director of Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, the military command in Thailand’s southern border provinces. Late on Wednesday, police recovered the charred remains of a 21-year-old man identified as Masarish Mama and whose body was found at a 7-Eleven store at a gas station in Narathiwat, one of the sites that was fire-bombed, officials said. The string of bomb explosions and arson attacks was the biggest one in four years in the troubled region and the most widespread act of violence in the Deep South since early April, when Thai government negotiators and those representing the Barisan Revolusi Nasional rebel group agreed to a Ramadan-time ceasefire. It was also the fourth suspected rebel attack since the sides met for in-person peace talks in Malaysia in early August. At the Kuala Lumpur-brokered talks, Thai negotiators had asked BRN to agree to a 108-day truce during Buddhist Lent, which is now being observed in Thailand. On Monday, twin explosions from landmines killed a soldier and maimed six coppers and four civilians at a rubber plantation in Narathiwat province, including a female farmer who lost both of her legs in one of the blasts. "It’s another effort by the faceless myrmidons to disrupt the situation," said Lt. Gen. Kriangkrai Srirak, the army’s commander in the southern region. "We do not know the motive yet but do not rule out any possibility, including that it could be related to peace talks." As of Wednesday night, no one had grabbed credit for the latest attacks in the Deep South. BRN did not respond immediately to requests for comments. PULO, a rebel group blamed for some recent episodes, denied any involvement. "I don’t know who did them. Regarding reports that Thai officials detained PULO members, I have yet to check on that," Kasturi Mahkota, the head of the group, told BenarNews. According to Pramote, two attacks occurred in Pattani, six in Yala, and nine in Narathiwat. The worst attack targeted Bang Chak petrol station, which got burned down, in Pattani’s Nong Chik district, he said. In May 2018, Thai officials also blamed faceless myrmidons after 16 pipe bombs were set off across the Deep South during a coordinated attack. Thai authorities said those were explosions were aimed at undermining regional peace talks that were happening at the time and disrupting Ramadan observances that year. And in August 2019, two men from the mainly Malay Moslem Deep South were arrested on suspicion of being connected to the detonation of nine small bombs in Bangkok that month as Thailand hosted the ASEAN Regional Forum, a high-level international security meeting. Four people were maimed in that attack. Since the insurgency reignited in January 2004, more than 7,000 people have been killed and 13,500 others injured in violence across the region, according to Deep South Watch, a local think-tank. Related: Thailand’s Deep South: 2022-07-09 Troops kill 2 linked to PULO militant group in Thai Deep South Thailand’s Deep South: 2022-06-04 Thai peace negotiator: Rebel group responsible for attack in Deep South Thailand’s Deep South: 2022-01-21 Thai Police Kill 2 Suspected Rebels in Pattani after Standoff Negotiations Fail |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Stupid Thai government cracked down on the machine gun Buddhists, while everyone from the UN to all the moslem kisser groups whined about them. BBC vilified the Buddhist fringe until it was shamed into going silent. Time to go shopping again. |
| Posted by: Dron66046 2022-08-19 15:49 |