Killing goes on

[thai3]

 

 

Attacks continue: 8 injured by Yala bomb, schools burnt

Published on January 01, 2005

 

Attacks in the restive South are continuing, with eight more injured victims being counted on Thursday night.

 

At 10.15pm on Thursday, militants planted a fake bomb opposite a mosque in Yala?s Krong Pinang district to lure police officers to the location. When they arrived, a real bomb planted nearby exploded.

 

It injured six police and military officers, a volunteer and a village headman: Pol Sub-Lieutenant Charnchai Laohiransap, Pol Sgt-Major Pranet Srisai, Pol Lt-Colonel Pisut Chimkua, Pol Lt-Colonel Kachornsak Laohiranwat, Staff Sergeant Somjit Ram-in, Private Sabueree Korlae, volunteer Musor Jehsoh and village headman Muhammad Lohyapa.

 

In a separate incident, assailants shot and injured former ranger Apisit Kueji in Yala?s Bannang Sata district on Thursday at 8.30pm.

 

Apisit, who was injured in the arm, shot back. His attackers escaped.

 

Shortly after midnight a series of arson attacks took place in Raman district. The first target was a truck parked on Kotabalu-Raman Road. Two public telephone booths were also torched at about 12.30am yesterday.

 

About 15 minutes later arsonists burnt down the two-storey Ban Kortortuera School.

 

At 1.05am, Krajang Thammarak-sa alerted police that somebody had set fire to his garage and car. At 1.20am, three other public telephone booths were set ablaze.

 

In Narathiwat, the electricity meter for a mosque in Rusoh district was burnt at 11.30am yesterday. The local electricity authorities immediately cut the power to prevent any further damage as local people rushed to put out the fire, which they succeeded in doing when it was only two metres away from an electricity transformer.

 

At 12.30pm, arsonists set Ban Suanphla School ablaze, slightly damaging a wall and teaching materials.

 

Meanwhile, Narathiwat Governor Pracha Terat called for tight security during the New Year and warned people of possible motorcycle bombs.

 

?Attackers may hide bombs in their motorcycles to instigate violence during New Year celebrations,? he said, adding that security should be stepped up in communities, government agencies, commercial areas, restaurants and hotels.

 

Pracha said officers must thoroughly check every motorcycle and record the riders? profiles.

 

He also ordered all five bordering districts in the province to add volunteers to cross-border points to ensure strict screening of people going in and out of the country.

 

In a related development, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will pay a New Year?s visit to police and military officers in the three southernmost provinces tomorrow, hoping to boost morale that has been dampened by daily attacks by militants.

 

?I may stay overnight alongside military officers,? Thaksin said yesterday. He refused to give the exact location of his planned stay.

 

Since the wave of violence erupted a year ago, more than 500 people have been killed in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. The casualties include policemen, military officers, teachers, monks, rubber-tappers, government workers and armed separatists.

[rickfarang]

It seems exceptionally cruel in light of the stress many Thais are feeling over the tsunami, but the insurgents (or thugs) are driven by extreme forces I cannot relate to. One opinion recently expressed is that insurgents will turn any shortcoming in governmental responses to the tusnami to their own political advantage. Yes, there is no doubt the killing will continue.

 

[Guest lazyphil]

Post edited.

[Guest]

This situation will probably get worse instead of better.

 

This is an old problem. Lasy year's (2004) 2 nasty events leaves many with the desire for revenge, especially for those who were suffocated to death.

[thai3]

 

There was an insurgency before those events and I'm sure the problems would have continued, although maybe less so without them. Terrorists always use the last attrocity of the other side to justify the continuance of many more of thier own-peter