10 THAIS SHOT DEAD IN SOUTH!

[Fidel]

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Here we go gentlemen...

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Thursday November 4, 9:34 PM

10 killed in Thailand's restive south in escalation of violence

 

 

BANGKOK (AFP) - Ten people including nine Buddhists have been killed in the past 24 hours in Thailand's mainly Muslim south in a spate of violence following the death of 87 detained Muslims last week.

 

A policeman, two state railway workers, a salesman and a former official were shot dead Thursday, while a Buddhist monk from Songkhla province was in critical condition after being shot by a man on a motorbike.

 

Police said the attacks followed the death of five other people Wednesday.

 

More than half the killings occurred in Narathiwat province where 78 Muslims suffocated or were crushed to death after they were piled into military trucks last week following a demonstration at Tak Bai township.

 

Six others were shot dead by security forces at that demonstration and three more drowned.

 

A 24-year-old motorbike salesman from Pattani was killed in neighbouring Yala province around midday by two gunmen on a motorbike after two railway workers were shot dead in Narathiwat province.

 

A 61-year-old former district official was gunned down at his Pattani province fruit plantation early Thursday while a policeman was killed in a gun attack in a neighbouring province.

 

On Wednesday gunmen broke into a police sergeant's house in Songkhla province and shot him dead. A 75-year-old mother and her 39-year-old son were killed in a separate shooting at their grocery shop in Narathiwat.

 

In the same province Wednesday a 40-year-old man was killed during an attack that left his 15-year-old son injured, while police found the unidentified body of a man in his late 30s who had been shot dead.

 

"The motive is believed to be linked to the ongoing violence in the south and police are investigating," said Police Colonel Maitree Saengarun.

 

Police said nine of the dead were Buddhists while the former district official was a Muslim.

 

The killings follow the beheading of a Buddhist village leader in the mainly Muslim south Tuesday. That killing was claimed as a revenge murder for the Muslims who died at Tak Bai.

 

The Fourth Army commander in charge of the south, Lieutenant General Pisarn Wattanawongkeeree, was transferred to another post this week for failing to solve the unrest in the south of the mainly Buddhist kingdom.

 

A long-running separatist insurgency flared anew in the south in January. The latest killings, including a reported death of a man who had his throat slashed in Yala Tuesday, bring this year's death toll to more than 480.

 

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai meanwhile played down a United Nations e-mailed warning to its staff to be extra-vigilant.

 

"We can still confirm that we can provide high security to officials, diplomats and international staff," he told reporters.

 

Analysts have warned that the custody deaths may spark an escalation in violence, with some fearing the attacks could spread to Bangkok.

 

The revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej made a rare intervention last weekend, calling for more restraint from troops in handling the unrest.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, facing his biggest crisis yet, ordered an independent inquiry into last week's tragedy amid growing international condemnation. It is due to reveal its findings by December 2.

 

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[Zaad]

And again we see that fighting violence with violence is a bad idea.

I'm afraid many more will suffer from these consequences and will go on for a while.

[Flashermac]

I suppose you've heard about the deputy village headman -- a Buddhist despite his Malay sounding name -- who was found beheaded.

 

Just so they keep the violence down south!