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November 20, 2006

Thailand: A Week Of Muslim Murder And Mayhem

The provinces of the south of Thailand, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, as well as two districts of Songkhla province, are predominantly Muslim, and formerly comprised an independent sultanate called Pattani. This was invaded in 1786, and annexed within Siam (Thailand) in 1902. For five decades at least, there have been insurgencies and rebellions. The current insurgency began on January 4, 2004, when an army base was raided in Narathiwat province, with 300 weapons seized, and with 20 schools set alight. This insurgency has now claimed between 1,700 and 1,800 lives.

The three southern provinces are the poorest in the country, with high levels of unemployment. The national average of unemployment is 14%, but in Yala it is 35%, in Narathiwat it is 28%, and in Pattani the rate is 25%. The Muslims in the region speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay.

Our last report on the insurgency was on November 13. SInce then, the murders have continued.

On Tuesday, November 14, prime minister Surayud Chulanot urged the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand to assist in solving the unrest. At a meeting in Bangkok, he said the government would be willing to support a maternity project for southern Muslims, and also donated 200,000 baht ($5,463) to the Committee. This was to help them organize a three-day festival in Bangkok, which opened on Friday. This festival, called Maolid Klang, is annually held to celebrate the birthday of Mohammed (though his birthday is said to have happened in April).

On Wednesday morning, an assistant village headman, 36-year old Da-oh Kadasae, was shot in Yala province's Raman district when he went to drop his child off at a nursery school. Two gunmen fired at him four times, and he was hit in the body. He died at the scene, near the child's school. His five-year old daughter was found screaming beside him, with scratches "all over her face". Police said that Do-oh was killed because he had acted as an informant for the government.

In Narathiwat province on the same day, four soldiers had parked their vehicle to pick up teachers to take them to school. More than sixty teachers have been killed in the current insurgency, and police and soldiers now provide escorts for the majority. When the vehicle was parked, a bomb placed 30 feet away was detonated by mobile phone, wounding the most senior of the soldiers.

The national police chief, Pol. Gen. Kovit Wattana, visited automobile showrooms which had been hit by bombs in Yala city the week previously. He also visited the Buddhist villagers who had fled their homes on Wednesday November 8, and taken refuge in a Buddhist temple, Wat Nirotsankharam temple in Muang district, Yala province. At least 200 villagers from Bannang Sata and Than To districts had fled after an elderly man and his daughter had been killed. Insurgents had shot at their house and then set it on fire on November 5.

In the afternoon of November 14, a woman teacher was killed by two drive-by gunmen while riding her motorcycle home after work in Rueso district, Narathiwat province. The teacher, 33-year old Buddhist Kutilda Inchampa, was also an army sub-lieutenant and assistant principal at the school.

On Thursday, the school where she taught, Ban La Moh, was closed. Another school in the same district was also closed, as staff and parents were fearful of similar attacks. The Ban Baluka school lies on the same road where Kutilda Inchampa had been shot.

In the same province on Thursday, a rubber plantation in Rangae district was raided for weapons which been allegedly hidden there by members of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil insurgent group. AN AK-47 assault rifle and bullets were found buried.

General Surayud Chulanont visited Muang district in Narathiwat on Thursday, to discuss problems with 500 teachers and students. He said that students were worried about the lack of opportunities to pursue studies at higher levels in the region. His audience suggested initiating scholarships for bright pupils.

The following day, 38 more schools in Rueso district in Narathiwat were closed after Kutilda Inchampa's murder on Wednesday. They are believed to have re-opened today.

On Friday, one man was killed and 20 were wounded when insurgents set off two bombs. The first took place at a tea shop in Muang district in Narathiwat. 55-year old Abdul-royae Jaewar had been selling garlands at the shot and was hit by shrapnel. He died shortly afterwards. The first bomb was followed by another, in a nearby street. In the second blast, Theerapong Nararakwong, a Reuters journalist, was injured.

An hour before that blast, a 15 kilogram bomb, placed inside a fire extinguisher, went off in Sungai Padi district, Narathiwat around 7 am. Seven soldiers were injured.

Late on Friday evening, four insurgents threw a bomb into a tea shop in Muang district, Yala province. The shop was owned by a 77-year old woman. No-one was hurt. A 10 kilogram roadside bomb also went off at a repair shop in Than To district, Yala, about 20 meters from the local district police station. Nobody was injured.

A 27 year old Muslim was also shot dead while riding his motorcycle in Yala late on Friday evening. Earlier in the day at the same village, a 52-year old Buddhist ice cream seller was shot dead by two gunmen riding a motorcycle.

In Pattani province, a 35-year old Buddhist security guard was killed on Friday afternoon as he returned from work, riding a motorcycle, and a 33-year old Buddhist villager was shot dead later in the day, as he was shopping in a food market.

On Saturday, November 18, a police officer was shot and seriously injured in Muang district, Yala province, by two motorcycle gunmen. The officer, 30-year old Pol. Sgt-Maj. Lertchai Woharn, was hit after he had made a routine inspection of a local school. He was hit in the neck and back and was taken to Yala Central Hospital, where he was said to be in a critical condition.

Also on Saturday, weapons which had been buried by the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) group were recovered from a forest in Narathiwat, where they had been buried. One of the weapons, an M-16 ridle, was believed to have been one of those stolen in the raid on the military camp in Narathiwat in 2004, on the first night of the current insurgency.

Late on Saturday night, an elderly Buddhist man, 73-year old Nam Sriplo, a cow herder, was shot dead in Yala province. His body was set on fire.

On Sunday, a Buddhist man was shot dead in Yala province. After he was killed, his assailants then tried to decapitate him. Since May 29, 2004, there have been twenty decapitations in the current insurgency.

In Yala on Sunday, a 68-year old Buddhist owner of a motorcycle repair shop was shot dead outside his place of business. He was shot five times in the head and body by two militants who were on a motorcycle.

In Pattani province on Sunday, a 53-year old Buddhist taxi driver was shot dead as he stood by his vehicle outside a food market.

Late on Sunday night, three people were killed in a drive-by shooting in Rangae district, Narathiwat province. They were a group of friends drinking tea when a pick-up truck carrying four gunmen approached. The gunmen fired at them with AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles. 47-year old Abdulrohim Arwaebuesa and 44-year old Mahama Chekho died at the scene. Their companion, 50-year old Uma Nima, died shortly afterwards.

Abdulrohim Arwaebuesa and Uma Nima were members of the Tambon (borough) Bangosoto Administrative Organisation. The three men were killed as they drank outside Abdulrohim's house in Tradae village.

In Muang district on Sunday evening, Yaa province, 67-year old Prasong Rungrueng was shot in the back of the head by two attackers, who then slit his throat with a knife.

In Hat Yai district, Songkhla province, 31-year old Chainarong Pongsuwan was shot dead by two attackers, and his body was dumped in a ditch. Chainarong was the nephew of a mayor of Kuan Lang municipality.

Today, (Monday) a bomb was hidden in a motorcycle, placed near a motorcycle showroom in Sungai Kolok district, Narathiwat province. At around 10 am, the bomb was detonated by mobile phone. One soldier and a Muslim villager died in the blast. Three soldiers and 13 civilians were injured in the explosion. The shop is near a market. The bomb was set off when four soldiers arrived at the market.

The government following the coup of September 19 has extended many offers of peace to insurgents in the south. But it appears that the insurgents are unsure how to respond - whether to accept the peace deals, or whether or not to continue fighting.

Some insurgents want to continue the mayhem, and plan to intensify the violence. A source told the Bangkok Post yesterday that the groups funded by foreign money want to keep the insurgency going. During Ramadan, 6,000,000 baht ($163,908) of donations were sent to insurgents, the source said. The Muslim donors came from Egypt, Libya, Sweden, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The Runda Kampulan Kecil (RKK) has no intentions of engaging with any peace deals. Its operatives have been elebrating at their success in driving Buddhists out of their homes in Than To and Bannag Sata districts of Yala province.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 20, 2006 11:46 AM

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