Much has been going on in Thailand. My friend Suphi, the Thai Army General, is in charge of a lot going on in the 3 southern rpovinces which are largely Moslem:
"Hi guys. Sorry am not around so much now but have very little time for self. Mostly working 14 hour days here. For every incident you read of are five or six do not. Also are many we catch before happen.
This is official story on what happen at Tak Bai. Are many errors in story given in report. For example we capture one pistol J-frame Smith and Wesson .38. Is nice piece may keep it
SONGKHLA, Thailand - More than 80 people have died following a riot outside the Tak Bai police station in Narathiwat Province, southern Thailand. The riot followed the arrest of six Muslim defense volunteers who have been charged with handing the weapons they had been issued over to Islamic separatist terrorists. The violence erupted after about 2,000 Tak Bai residents picketed noisily outside the police station demanding the unconditional release of the six men. At some point during this demonstration there was a concerted effort by the rioters to storm the police station and release the accused men. This appears to have been instigated by a number of professional agitators who had been identified at a number of other civil disturbances in the three southernmost provinces and by some unidentified onlookers who appeared to be from outside the region. The attack was broken up by the use of water cannon and tear gas. the security forces guarding the police post came under fire from elements within the crowd. By this time more than 24 security personnel had been injured although none were hit by the gunfire coming form the riot.
Soldiers assisting the police then returned fire, initially shooting over the head of the crowd, then dropping rioters seen to be carrying weapons. A total of nine people were killed, six bodies being found on the scene and another three were pulled from the Tak Bai river. Weapons recovered from the dead included four M-16 assault rifles, three AK-47 assault rifles, one .38 pistol, 14 machetes and a handful of cartridges. Four hand grenades were retrieved from bodies taken out of the Tak Bai river. The Fourth Army is currently trying to identify the bodies to see if any were foreigners with terrorist connections. A further 16 rioters were wounded by rifle fire and are being treated at Ingkayutthaboriharn Hospital. All are in critical condition.
Following the outbreak of gunfire, the rioting crowd was broken up and more than 1,300 people were detained after attacking security forces. The problem was that the security forces in the area had not planned on having to handle this many detained people and the requisite truck capacity was not available. The military forces had to bring up trucks from an Army base and also hire civilian vehicles to take the detainees to Ingkayutthaboriharn army camp in nearby Pattani for questioning. It was during the grueling six-hour wait before being moved out that 78 of the detainees died from suffocation in the cramped interior of the trucks, according to a team of forensic pathologists led by Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunant, deputy director of the Forensic Science Institute. She said most of the dead were found at the front of the trucks, just behind the cab.
It appears that conditions inside the trucks deteriorated quickly because of the heat. Many protesters were weak and hungry because they were obeying the holy Ramadan fast which took a heavy toll on their health. It appears that the dead were already severely dehydrated since they had been exposed to the full heat of the sun during the riot yet hadn't drunk water since early morning. [NOTE THE FOLLOWING>]In addition, it appears that many of the rioters had consumed the same cocktail of drugs, morphine, methamphetamine and marihuana extract, that had been used by Muslim terrorists in the April attacks on Army posts. Confirmation of this is proving hard to get since, although Khunying Doctor Pornthip took fluids from the dead bodies for lab tests, Islamic religious codes barred a proper autopsy of the bodies, which must be brought for burial within 24 hours. Khunying Pornthip insisted she did not distort the findings to vindicate the government, although the sight of so many deaths had taken her aback. "'It's not in my nature to jeopardize a physician's ethics to cover up for anyone. I carried out the forensic process in line with the facts,'' she said.
Authorities had been able to identify 36 bodies so far. They did not have fatal gunshot wounds nor were there any wounds inflicted by sharp objects. Khunying Pornthip said about 80% of the victims had suffocated and others succumbed to severe heat stroke and convulsions. She did not rule out the possibility that the suffocation could have been caused by agitators in the trucks blocking the nostrils and mouths of the protesters to prevent them from breathing. "We can't tell for sure if anyone blocked their nostrils or mouths," she said. Some support for this theory stems from the fact that two of the dead had broken necks. Fourth Army deputy commander General Sinchai Boonsathit said the soldiers had handled the protesters humanely and did not toss them into the trucks or pile them on top of one another as alleged. Protesters detained at Ingkayutthaboriharn camp were allowed to make phone calls to let their families know their whereabouts.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government had run out of patience and would take drastic action against elements instigating violence. However, security forces must forgo use of weapons in managing protests and follow proper and peaceful crowd-control procedures. Security forces deployed at the Tak Bai standoff had taken the right step firing warning shots into the air and pointing guns away from protesters. ''They did a great job. They have my praise,'' Mr Thaksin said.
The riot outside the police station appears to have been coordinated with a wave of shootings across Narathiwat province that saw five people attacked, one of whom was killed. Kooy sae Ooy, 72, was seriously wounded as he was returning home from tending his orchard in Sungai Padi district. The second casualty was Boonsri Nakmart, 24, who was attacked while driving his motorcycle home in Sukhirin district. Also in Sukhirin district, gunmen opened fire on Kan Takooy who was hit in his chest and hands. In Sungai Kolok, a man identified only as Khiew was wounded and only 10 minutes later Chamlong Charun, 40, was shot dead at his house. All the victims were Buddhists.
"This was great tragedy is bad that so many have died. But think main reason is they bring this on selves. Hot climate fast with no food or drink and taking drugs is very bad. Guess is if we cut these up we find many die of kidney and liver failure."
You like our G36s? We make these here now under license. Ours is almost same as German but not quite. No carry handle on top. Pattern weapons we buy from Germany have handle but not ones made here. We are replacing M16 with two rifles G36 and SIG550 both made here. You hear we are buying Gripen also from Sweden.
Build a man a fire you warm him for a night
Set a man on fire you warm him for all his life |
