16 Die In Attack On Thai Marine Base

[Flashermac]

Scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed a military base in the southern border province of Narathiwat on Wednesday morning, an army spokesman said, in a major assault that left at least 16 militants dead.

 

"About 80 fully armed militants stormed the base, where there were 60 Marines," said Col Pramote Promin, southern army spokesman.

 

He said the attack, one of the most ambitious in several years of violence in Thailand's deep South, had resulted in the deaths of at least 16 assailants.

 

No Marines were killed, but there were reported to be some wounded.

 

The attack was launched early in the morning on a base in Bacho district of Narathiwat.

 

A 24-hour curfew was declared in the immediate region after the attack, until 6am Thursday. Fourth Army commander Udomchai Thammasarotrat said it covers four tambons in Narathiwat and two tambons in Pattani, all within a five-kilometre radius of the base.

 

There was confusion over the number of attackers dead. An army spokesmen said 17 militants were killed, but the 4th Army chief said the number was 16 - with more bodies likely to be found in a sweep of the base perimeter.

 

"We learned of the attack in advance from militants who defected," Col Pramote told Thai television.

 

"We were able to secure the camp. All of our forces are safe," he said.

 

He added that Maroso Jantarawadeea, a key local leader of the fighters, who wore bullet-proof vests during the attack, was among the dead.

 

Authorities had offered two million baht bounty for the capture of Maroso, who was involved in several murders in the far South, including a recent killing of a school teacher.

 

Two other insurgent leaders were also killed in the shooting.

 

The attackers reportedly were armed with AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles. Officials seized a total of 18 insurgent firearms from the perimeter area after the attack.

 

Fourth Army commander Lt Gen Udomchai Thammasarorat said the retreating militants were beileved to be still in the areas under curfew in Narathiwat and Pattani.

 

The Wednesday attack followed an ambush by car bomb which killed five soldiers on Sunday.

 

The bomb, which also wounded a sixth soldier and two rubber tappers working nearby, was detonated as the troops passed by in their patrol vehicle in a village in Yala.

 

According to Deep South Watch, which monitors the southern violence, more than 5,000 people have been killed and over 9,000 injured in more than 11,000 incidents, or about 3.5 a day, in the three southernmost provinces and the four districts of Songkhla since the violence erupted afresh in January 2004.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/335706/16-die-in-attack-on-thai-marine-base

[pasathai1]

and their leaders sit back and revel in the power they have over these fools in the name of islam

[Plainsdrifter]

hope there are enough virgins in paradise to service the 16 martyrs.......

[TheCorinthian]

80 "heavily armed" men storm a base... and kill no one?? That is pretty pathetic.

[acockasian]

This whole area ran absolutely fine until Thaksin took it from the Army and gave it to the police according to people I believe. In weeks they lost a 30 or 40 year network of spies and informers.

 

Now it is out of control and not likely to get better..

[acockasian]

hope there are enough virgins in paradise to service the 16 martyrs.......

 

Think of this in ethnic terms rather than religious.

[Mekong]

80 "heavily armed" men storm a base... and kill no one?? That is pretty pathetic.

 

Or maybe biased reporting from the Thai media to make the militants believe the raid had been a failure.

 

I cannot believe that there were no losses "No Marines were killed but some injured" it is a classic tactic report misinformation to deflate your opposition.

 

I am not claiming to be 100% correct in my assessment but knowing the way that the Thai media is controlled it would not surprise if this was the case.

 

Not sure if it was a thread I read on here recently or somewhere else online but Thailand does have a rather low press freedom ranking,

 

http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Global%20and%20Regional%20Press%20Freedom%20Rankings.pdf Latest rankings from 2012.

[acockasian]

Of all the people on this board I bet only Flashermac would remember the things that happened to Mr. Gorman when, as editor, is was felt that the Bangkok Post "crossed" the line in reporting.

[Flashermac]

Michael Gorman ... a name I haven't heard in years.

 

Foreign journals (and now the Post too) say that 30 men hit the post, with 20 more in backup. Mines took out some of the attackers. The others were killed during the attack or by pursuit. The "insurgents" expected to find the Marines sleeping with only a few on guard. Instead they were all manning the perimeter. Charging into a prepared defence does tend to cause casualties, especially when you are used to killing only teachers or monks. I can believe there were no friendlies killed, having seen that happen in RVN. Note these attackers did not have RPGs either, only rifles. Some of the weapons recovered were even pistols.

 

"Think of this in ethnic terms rather than religious."

 

It is both. The separatist "insurgents" want an independent Islamic Republic of Patani under sharia law, with the property of all "infidels" siezed and the nonbelievers expelled. Think of religious nutters combined with nationalist nutters. The Sultanate of Pattani was tributary to the Thai kingdom for centuries. When the Burmese took out Ayutthaya in 1767, the sultan declared his independence. In 1785, afetr the Thais had got their act together again and fought off the Burmese, King Rama I sent his brother to reconquered Patani, which he did. Pattani has been directly ruled by the Thais ever since. All the treaty with Britain did was acknowldege the fact that Pattani belonged to Thailand and the British got Kelantan.

 

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Phraya_Tani

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[acockasian]

"Think of this in ethnic terms rather than religious."

 

It is both. The separatist "insurgents" want an independent Islamic Republic of Patani under sharia law, with the property of all "infidels" siezed and the nonbelievers expelled. Think of religious nutters combined with nationalist nutters. The Sultanate of Pattani was tributary to the Thai kingdom for centuries. When the Burmese took out Ayutthaya in 1767, the sultan declared his independence. In 1785, afetr the Thais had got their act together again and fought off the Burmese, King Rama I sent his brother to reconquered Patani, which he did. Pattani has been directly ruled by the Thais ever since. All the treaty with Britain did was acknowldege the fact that Pattani belonged to Thailand and the British got Kelantan.

 

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Phraya_Tani

 

 

I'll defer to your knowledge then as I really don't know that much about it. The few people I know from there do want autonomy or a separate country but not necessarily an Islamic one.

 

When the Malays press for autonomy for the Pattani people it also doesn't seem to be under Sharia'a law, or at least that part is not obvious, in the different English language papers in Malaysia.