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August 5, 2006

Thailand: Schools Are Main Targets For Muslim Terrorists In South

On Tuesday evening, August 1 in a period of little more than two hours, attacks were made in the three provinces of the mainly Muslim south. There were at the time an estimated 40 small bombs set off, mainly triggered by mobile phone, and several arson attacks upon various targets, including a Buddhist temple in Narathiwat province and one upon a rubber processing factory in Pattani.

On Wednesday, the Fourth Army stated that the total number of attacks on August 1 was 118. Yesterday, the Bangkok Post reported that the government was responding to Tuesday's attacks by sending in more troops to the region. It ordered 30 companies of rangers to complement the existing troops in the three troubled provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. Already about 20,000 troops are deployed in 18 major battalions and nine ranger companies in the region.

Historically, the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, as well as two districts of Songhkla province, formerly comprised an independent Muslim sultanate called Pattani. Thailand invaded the region in 1786, and the provinces became officially annexed into Thailand in 1902. The population in these provinces is 80% Muslim, and 20% Buddhist.

Since January 4 2004, an insurgency has been carried out by Muslim separatists, who wish to see the southern region secede from Thailand. Almost 1,400 people have died in the violence so far. Recently, the majority of victims of this violence seem to be Muslims themselves, individuals judged to be "collaborators" with the Thai authorities. Teachers and schools have recently been the targets of the insurgents, with a sharp rise in such assaults since May.

In Rueso district of Narathiwat on Thursday, a pre-dawn raid was made against a school. One of the single-story wooden buildings comprising the school was burned completely. Classes at the Rueso Wittaya school were suspended until repairs have been made.

It was in the same district that an attack happened at a school on July 24, in Ban Muaraeng school. There four militants had come to the school, and one, dressed as a school pupil entered the class of 48-year old Prasarn Makchu as he was teaching Thai language. The assailant shot the techer dead in front of his fourth grade students, who were traumatised. Mr Prasarn died with a chalk still in his hand.

The attacks lead to many teachers being ferried to their schools, and often these are targets of the insurgents' attacks. Yesterday in Yala province, a teacher escort patrol was subjected to a bomb assault.In tambon Kayubokoh in Raman district, a bomb went off at the roadside around 9.10 am, shortly after a teacher protection patrol had passed. The teachers has been already dropped off at their destinations, and none of the nine soldiers in the vehicle were injured.

Yesterday, near the entrance of a tadika Islamic school in Sungai Padi distric in Narathiwat, a bomb was set off by mobile phone around 1.30 pm, as a patrol vehicle carrying six soldiers was passing. No-one was hurt.

On Thursday night, there had been another bomb at Ban Chanae school in Rueso district in Narathiwat, one of two bomb attacks in the region that night. The bomb at the school happened as a 10-member military patrol passed by. Two of the soldiers were injured, and were taken to a local hospital.

Earlier in Rueso district, a bomb triggered by a mobile phone was set off in front of a rubber factory around 7.12 pm. A soldier and a local resident were injured in this blast. The injured were named as 21-year old Private Arduenan Daranibong, and 38-year old Ma Jaehung. Another bomb in Narathiwat province was defused prior to its being set to explode.

Again on Thursday in Rueso district, two houses belonging to suspects who were thought to have taken part in the killing of the teacher Prasarn Makchu were raided, but the wanted men had already fled.

Earlier on Thursday in Rueso district, Muslim insurgents with M16 rifles fired upon two houses, around dawn. Three people were injured in the attack. In Chanae district in Narathiwat province, a five kilogram home-made bomb, triggered by mobile phone, went off near a gas station. No-one was hurt.

In Cho Airong (Joh I Rong) district of Narathiwat on the same day, a 37-year old mechanic, Anuwa Jehtae, was shot dead. The assailants attacked Mr Anuwa at around 10 am as he was driving his pickup truck. Four gunmen on two motorcycles followed the truck and fired with a shotgun and an AK-47.

A stray bullet from the insurgents hit a five year old girl who was playing outside her house with her friends. The little girl was hit in the leg, leaving her severely injured.

In Tung Yang Daeng district, Pattani province on Thursday, shortly before midnight, a villager was shot dead. 37-year old Wadoh Thayeh was killed as he returned home from a teashop. SHortly after the killing, insurgents shot at village defense volunteers.

Earlier in the morning in tambon Pakarang in Pattani province, two gunmen on a motorcycle had tried to shoot a factory worker. They did not hit their target.

On Thursday, police announced that they have a list of 700 suspects whom they want to question in relation to the multiple arson/bomb attacks of August 1. The Royal Thai Police Office's Yala-based Forward Operation Centre (FOC) made the announcement, but also said they are understaffed and do not have the necessary manpower to mount the necessary arrests. The unit only has 20 investigators, to cover all three provinces in the south. They already have a backlog of cases they need to address. Police chiefs have promised to send more staff.

How to treat the insurgency is a matter of dispute. On Wednesday the caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra advised the Army's Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin to increase non-combat operations and to attempt to gain the trust of the civilian population in the region. However yesterday, caretaker defence minister, General Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya, said that troops being used to protect teachers in escorts meant there were fewer soldiers available to combat the insurgency adequately. He advised General Sonthi to use "brute force rather than gentle treatment". Gen. Thammarak said: "When they mount a violent attack, we need to strike back. Sweet talk alone does no good."

The caretaker education minister, Chaturon Chaiseng, announced on Friday that schools are now key targets of the insurgents. At a meeting held in Pattani, teachers' representatives unveiled a package of proposals, designed to increase safety for staff and students.

Teachers have demanded that local individuals be hired to act as security guards at school gates, setting up a warning system, radio communications between schools and installation of closed-circuit cameras in schools.

The minister promised to take their proposals on board. After the meeting, Chaturon promised that 120 public schools will have CCTV installed. He also said that the response times of security agencies will be radically shortened. Agencies have been condemned for taking too long to arrive at the scene when emergency situations develop.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 5, 2006 6:06 PM

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