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January 14, 2006
Thailand: Two Muslims Shot By Militants
News.com.au reports that late on Friday (yesterday), rubber-tapper Ma-ae Doloh, a Muslim, was shot in the chest by two bullets fired by gunmen who broke into his house. Ma-ae was sleeping at the time, in his home in Muang district in Narathiwat.
A superintendent of Narathiwat's Muang district police claimed: "It's clear that he was shot by militants who wanted to incite the unrest."
In Yarang district of Pattani province, another Muslim was killed. Army ranger Yakariah Toyoh was shot several times outside his house, after returning from Friday prayers at a local mosque.
The unrest in the southern provinces has continued unabated since January 2004, and has claimed more than 1,000 lives. The conflict is partly led by Islamists who wish to see the three provinces of the south secede from the rest of Thailand.
Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, as well as two districts in adjacent Songgkla province, formerly comprised an independent sultanate called Pattani. This was defeated by Bangkok in 1786 and in 1902 it was placed under the central bureaucracy of Siam/Thailand. Islamists wish to recreate an independent Muslim region here.
At the start of the insurgency, most of the victims were Buddhists, who comprise 20% of the southern province's make-up. Though Buddhists are still targeted, of late many Muslims have died, apparently viewed as "uncle Toms" or collaborators by the militants fomenting the unrest.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 14, 2006 12:00 PM
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