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BANGKOK POST

30 April 2007

 

 

Four slain as OIC sec-gen starts trip;

Bombs hit market in Pattani, man beheaded

 

 

Four people were killed, one of them beheaded, in separate attacks in Pattani yesterday as the secretary-general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) began his first official visit to Thailand.

 

Two people were killed instantly and 24 others were injured when home-made bombs set off by militants on motorcycles exploded at a market in central Pattani last night, officials reported.

 

Early yesterday morning a man was beheaded and burned in Khok Pho district in the same province. The charred body of the 30-year-old and that of his teenage nephew were found dumped by a roadside in Nong Chik district.

 

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the visiting OIC secretary-general, held talks with Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram yesterday and the two sides are due to issue a joint statement today.

 

Mr Ihsahnoglu also had an hour-long discussion with Anand Panyarachun, former premier and chairman of the defunct National Reconciliation Commission.

 

Before Mr Ihsanoglu leaves today, he is due to meet with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and Interior Minister Aree Wongarya, and also with Islamic leaders from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

 

Mr Ihsanoglu told reporters that he "shared more common rather than different views" with Mr Nitya, whom he met for about 70 minutes yesterday.

 

Mr Nitya quoted him as expressing concern for the loss of innocent lives in the deep South.

 

Four of the people injured by the explosions in Pattani last night were reported to be in serious condition.

 

Initial reports said an unknown number of assailants carried the bombs in the motorbikes, which they rode to the night market downtown and parked.

 

Early yesterday, the charred and headless body of Preecha Nuanthong, 30, was found dumped on a roadside in Tambon Bang Kao in Nong Chik district, along with the body of his teenage nephew Dusit. Preecha's head was later found some 10km away. The two had been killed in Khok Pho district.

 

Also in the morning, more than 300 veiled Muslim women and children protested at an Islamic committee office in Nong Chik to demand better security for Muslim people in general and their places of worship in particular.

 

An attack on a local mosque on Saturday left one villager dead and three others injured.

 

The crowd dispersed after committee chairman Waedue-ramae Mamingjing promised to report their grievances to the OIC and broker a meeting with OIC representatives.

 

Mr Ihsanoglu told reporters that the OIC was encouraged by the interim government's policies towards the Muslim population and "supported measures taken by the government and hopes to cooperate for a better future".

 

Mr Nitya told the OIC chief that the recent upsurge in violence, including beheadings of people and the bombing of a mosque, might have been intended to draw his attention.

 

"The secretary-general seems to understand the situation well, and that things might intensify during his visit," said the foreign minister.

 

"Things happened to a lot of innocent people who were not partisans and not militants," he added.

 

The OIC secretary-general "appeals for their safety and I said the government is trying to provide that kind of safety. But you can see, and I can see, that these terrible incidents still occur and this surely means that we've not been fully successful," Mr Nitya said.

 

The government was trying to step up safety measures for people in the deep South and was providing social and economic welfare, especially education, to the locals, he added.

 

During a meeting with members of the media, Gen Surayud said there had been "no progress" when asked about reports that Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas was working towards talks with insurgents.