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August 28, 2006

Thailand: Muslim Insurgents Slice Off Victim's Ears

Today, according to the Nation a village defense volunteer in the mainly Muslim south was murdered by Islamist insurgents, and his body mutilated. The man, Sa-mael Jeha, aged 56, was found on a road in Sugai Padi district in Narathiwat Province.

He had earlier set off on his motorcycle to deliver Chinese donuts to local coffee houses when he was shot dead by Muslim militants on a village road in Moo Si village in Tambon Rigo.

The militants appear to have tried to cut his head off after he was killed, but failing in this, they chopped off his ears and took them away as trophies.

Yesterday in Yala province, a middle-aged man was shot by militants in a drive-by killing. 57-year old Sujin Jitrban was at a gas station in Kue Long in Bannang Sata district, filling up his pick-up truck when two men on a motorcycle approached and opened fire. Police suspect Muslim militants to have carried out the attack.

These are just two of the latest atrocities in an insurgency that has lasted since January 4, 2004, and claimed 1,400 lives. Initially the insurgency targeted the Buddhist population and priesthood, but recently more Muslim victims are killed by the insurgents, people such as defense volunteers and others who are viewed as "collaborators". Also schools and teachers themselves have been the subjects of insurgent attack. On the first night of the insurgency in 2004, 20 schools were set on fire.

The southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, as well as two districts of Songhkla province, formerly comprised an independent Muslim sultanate called Pattani, before they were officially annexed by Thailand a century ago. The population in these provinces is 80% Muslim, and 20% Buddhist. Since January 4 2004, an insurgency has been carried out by Muslim separatists from several factions, who wish to see the southern region secede from Thailand.

Our last report on the insurgency in the three southern provinces of Thailand was on August 14. Before documenting the tally-sheet of atrocities by the Muslim insurgents which took place while I was absent on holiday, I should mention one item that has featured heavily in Thai news reports - the plot to assassinate the caretaker prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Assassination plot or hoax?

On Thursday, August 24, a general in the Royal Thai Army was sacked following allegations that his personal driver had been found in possession of an explosive device, which was said to have been intended to kill Thaksin. Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana, an officer with the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), was arrested early in the morning, and later that day General Panlop Pinmanee, deputy director of ISOC was dismissed from his post.

The following day, as rumours spread that the bomb incident was a hoax set up by the government and Thaksin's party, the Thai Rak Thai, the caretaker prime minister (who had stepped down on April 4 after allegations of corruption) made a statement. Thaksin said that four military officers had been involved in the assassination plot.

However, many people refused to believe the claims, according to a poll published in yesterday's Bangkok Post, which had been conducted by Bangkok University. 49.8% of those polled, who came from Bangkok and its environs, claimed the plot was a hoax. 60.8% of these were convinced the government had engineered the event, and 20% thought that anti-government elements were behind the plot. Only 20.5% thought the plot had been real. 47.5% or respondents thought the TRT party would not lose popularity, and 25.5% thought the insident would affect TRT.

Inside a Daewoo car were found explosives, and according to Pol Lt-Col Kamthorn Ouicharoen, a 38-year-old officer of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's bomb disposal unit, the bomb was constructed by a professional. 67 kilograms of TNT was the explosive in the device, which would have caused damage over a 50 meter radius. However, army specialist Maj-Gen Khatiya Sawasdipol said he thought it was a plot by police to deceive people. He said wires in the detonating circuit were not connected correctly, and the bomb would not have gone off. The car was parked about a mile from Thaksin's house.

Yesterday, a 13-minute video of the suspect, Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana, was released by police. This was a message made after his arrest, in which the lieutenant said that he took full responsibility for the proposed attack, and even apologised to the public and Thaksin Shinawatra. Today, a military court refused the suspect bail.

The Insurgency

On Tuesday August 15, journalists were told by Gen. Adul Saengsingkaew, COmmissioner of the Provincial Police, Region 9, that the authorities were aware of insurgent plots. He said: "We believe that the insurgents active in the three troubled southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani will immediately stir the new spate of unrest once state security forces are apparently weak."

The following day, an elderly man was killed in Yala town, Yala province. 74-year old Thuan Intaratana was hit twice by bullets from a .38mm pistol as he rode his motorcycle to downtown Yala to attend a meeting of cooperative store owners. He was pursued by gunmen on another motorcycle, and received two gunshots to his torso.

On Thursday, August 17, 19 people were wounded in two separate bombing incidents. Around 7 am in Rangae district in Narathiwat province, a motorcycle bomb went off, wounding five soldiers and seven civilians. A young girl was among the injured.

An hour later, a bomb went off in a restaurant in Yala province, opposite the Yala State Hospital. Two policemen and five other people were injured, including hospital staff.

In both incidents, police recovered nails which had been part of the devices, and fragments of mobile phones, which were used to detonate the bombs.

On the same day in Pattani province, there were two fatal shooting incidents. Around 8 am in Nong Chik district, 31-year old Ma Matahe, a government informant, was shot dead as he rode home in his motorcycle. His assailants were two gunmen.

In the town of Sai Buri, Sai Buri district in Narathiwat, a 47-government employee was also shot dead by motorcycle gunmen. Bunchoo Longphrom was riding to work on his motorcycle.

On Friday August 18, a woman civil servant was wounded in Yala province. 24-year old Nongyao Tiyaworaphan was an employee of the Mae Wad subdistrict administration. She was attacked as she rode her motorcycle to work. She was hit four times by gunshot from unidentified assailants, and rushed to hospital.

On Saturday August 19, a village headman was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle in Yala province. 55-year old Suding Wahmae Disah was riding his motorcycle from Raman district to his home when he was shot once in the head and twice in the back. He died instantly.

On Sunday August 20, one person was killed and another injured after four insurgents on motorcycles fired AK47 rifles at a Irrigation Department-owned vehicle carrying eight workers. The incident happened in Yaring district in Pattani province. 56-year old Kade Nibong was killed, and 46-year old Roya Jehwae was taken to Pattani hospital.

On Monday August 21, according to Reuters, the insurgents focused their attention back on their former targets, Buddhists. A few days before one attack in Yala province, the insurgents had distributed leaflets, ordering Buddhists to leave the area.

The attack took place on Buddhist civilians as they loaded a truck with durian fruit, which they had purchased from a mainly Muslim village. Three Buddhist men were shot dead by gunmen riding motorcycles. The incident took place 300 meters away from an army outpost.

In Narathiwat province on the same day, three women, one Muslim and two Buddhist were all riding the same motorcycle, on their way home from visiting a market, when they were all shot and wounded. A police spokesman said: "Muslim villagers took the Muslim woman to hospital, but the Buddhist mother and daughter had to wait until police arrived because they were afraid of being seen as helping the government."

On Wednesday August 23, a Muslim schoolteacher was shot dead as he rode his motorcycle to the Islamic school (tadika) where he worked in Narathiwat province. 35-year old Ayi Mamu was shot several times by four people in a pickup truck, who fled the scene. Mr Ayi was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

On Friday August 25, a 34-year old man was shot dead in his pickup truck in Bannang Sata district of Yala province. The victim was named as Montree Buddikerd. He had been shot several times as he returned home from work.

On Saturday August 26 in Khok Pho district, Pattani province, a roadside bomb was detonated by mobile phone as a police patrol passed by. 47-year old Pol Sen Sgt-Maj Visai Narangkul suffered minor injuries in the blast. A civilian bystander, 30-year old shoe vendor Veerasak Paladsama, was also injured by the bomb, which was triggered by mobile phone.

Also on Saturday in Bannang Sata district of Yala province, a home-made bomb killed two army officials. Col Suthisak Prasertsri, 1st special task force chief, and one of his subordinates were killed as they returned from a "merit-making" trip in Than To district. The colonel's coffin is shown left, at Ubon Ratchathani airport, being brought home for burial. Five other army personnel were critically injured in the attack.

Rumours of fresh attacks by insurgents from the Bersatu separatist movement have brought trade in the Narathiwat provinces of Sungai Kolok and Tak Bai to a standstill.

The districts rely upon visitors from other districts, and even from Malaysians crossing the border, but visitors have stopped coming since the rumours emerged.

Yesterday, a unit hunting for the killers of Col Sutthisak Prasertsri, 1st special task force chief and one of his men conducted a raid in Bannang Sata district, Yala, and uncovered a factory for producing spikes. These spikes are often used to spread over roads when an insurgent attack takes place, to hinder access from security vehicles. Gun polish and spare gun parts were also recovered from a nearby cave.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 28, 2006 5:17 PM

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