Thailand still baffled by insurgency
afp ^ | 9/1/2006 | Boonradom Chitradon
news.yahoo.com
Thailand's army chief has said that government forces still do not know who they are fighting as they try to hunt down Islamic insurgents behind a wave of deadly violence in the south.
"Right now, the military does not know who their real leader is," General Sonthi Boonyaratglin told reporters after bombs went off in banks in southern Yala province the previous day, killing one person and wounding 29.
The shadowy insurgency erupted in January 2004 in Buddhist Thailand's mainly Muslim provinces along the southern border with Malaysia. More than 1,400 people have been killed in almost daily attacks since.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in June gave Sonthi, the first Muslim to head the Thai army, "full authority" to bring the troubled region under control.
But Sonthi said the government still did not know who was leading the unrest.
"I have ordered the military to find their leader," he said on Friday. "I will try to talk with their core leader, because otherwise we cannot restore peace in the south."
The violence continued on Friday as a 73-year-old Buddhist villager was shot dead by two suspected Islamic militants in Yala, and a 58-year-old Buddhist trader was gunned down by insurgents Thursday in neighboring Pattani province.
The small bombs Thursday morning exploded almost simultaneously at 22 commercial bank branches around Yala. Most of the branches remained closed Friday for repairs, although most of the damage was minor.
Police have arrested five male suspects so far in connection with the bomb attacks, said Lieutenant General Adul Saengsingkaoe, a regional police commander.
Sonthi said he believed the insurgents wanted to create an independent state in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, which were once an ethnic Malay sultanate until Bangkok annexed them a century ago.
"Their purpose is clear -- that they wanted to create an independent state. I am fully confident that all the incidents they have incited are part of a strategy to achieve their secession and self-rule," the army chief said.
"But that's Thai territory. I will not surrender or allow them to separate a single square inch."
Analysts and some government officials say that in addition to separatist violence, the unrest stems from criminal gangs operating along the border as well as local corruption.
Chaiwat Khamchoo, a political scientist from Chulalongkorn University, said insurgents remained capable of launching coordinated attacks despite government efforts to crack down on the violence.
"The bombs (on Thursday) were aimed at creating fear among people in the south. We don't know who were behind the attacks but we do know that they were well-trained and well-prepared," Chaiwat said.
Thursday's bank bombings were the third major show of force since June, in which the militants have staged well-coordinated attacks across a broad area while causing relatively few casualties. |
