South ablaze as 118 insurgent firebombings light up 4 provinces

BANGKOK, Aug 2 (TNA) - More than a hundred insurgent firebombings took place in four southern provinces Tuesday night, in a firestorm of arson and destruction of public and private property swept through the troubled region, local officials reported Wednesday.

The government security forces in Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala--and Songkhla as well--were surprised with coordinated raids Tuesday night carried out by hundreds of young men who set fire to telephone booths,
homes, bus shelters, and rubbish collection bins.

According to the Fourth Army Command, 118 incidents took place in a relatively short timeframe, severely taxing the response capacity of fire companies and related security teams.

In Pattani, the most severely hit, the authorities reported more than 80 incidents within several hours Tuesday night, the largest being a rubber factory in Nong Jik district being set ablaze, causing an
estimated Bt30 million in losses.

In Narathiwat, police reported five incidents across five districts, while one man was arrested in Tak Bai district on a different charge.

Police said the arrested man, Tan-eesum Tan-eeno, 32, was wanted for alleged involvement in previous bombing incidents. He was detained for further investigation at the Fourth Army Regional Command Headquarters.

Attacks were also reported in three districts of nearby Songkhla province, an area which is normally spared insurgent violence.

Yala Governor Boonyasith Suwannarat told TNA stopped short of relating the incidents to the continuing insurgent violence which has resulted in death for over 1,300 persons since breaking out in early 2004 but
said investigations were proceeding.

The governor lauded government forces for their prompt response, saying it took them only 10 minutes to take action after the incidents were reported.

Governor Boonyasith said Yala police shot and wounded one firebomber in a shooting exchange but the suspect escaped.

''Police are out there to get him,'' said the governor.

TNA

Interior Minister warns of more southern attacks

BANGKOK, Aug 2 (TNA) – Security forces in the South were told to be on alert in the wake of fresh intelligence reports that insurgents would launch more attacks in the trouble-plagued region, Interior Minister Kongsak Wanthana said here Wednesday.

Nearly 100 coordinated bombs and arsons rocked the four southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla on Tuesday night, injuring at least three people.

Another bomb exploded on a railway bridge in Songkhla this morning, killing three policemen and injuring an official.

Air Chief Marshal Kongsak said the authorities, though receiving intelligence reports earlier on the attacks, found it hard to prevent the violences. The reports did not specify the whereabouts of the attacks.

According to new intelligence reports, the minister said, there would be more attacks soon and agencies concerned have been instructed to be prepared for them. Local government premises are on high risk.

He admitted that the closed circuit television systems, installed in the southern provinces, were not capable of collecting evidences since the incidents took place in remote and isolated areas.

TNA

More blasts follow night of violence

By Martin Petty and Oranong Wongchatipitak in Songkhla

03 August 2006

SONGKHLA – Four people were killed in bombings in the deep South yesterday, just hours after scores of coordinated attacks rocked the troubled region for the second time in just six weeks.

Three border policemen were killed and another wounded when suspected insurgents triggered a bomb near a railway bridge in Songkhla’s Chana district early yesterday morning, police officials said.

The 10-kilogram device tore through the bridge, inflicting serious structural damage and claiming the lives of Pol Sgt-Maj Pornsak Kongthong, Sgt-Maj Kasem Chooprachong and Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Charoon Chopdaeng, who were crossing the bridge in a patrol car.

The blast left thousands of passengers stranded and disrupted train services between Thailand and Malaysia, with hundreds of police and soldiers sent to scour the area for more bombs.

“We suspect that at least two insurgents carried out the bombing,” a police official said. “It was a home-made device and it almost tore the bridge apart.”

In Pattani’s Muang district, an army technician was killed when a bomb exploded at a school construction site early yesterday, officials said. Sgt Yongyuth Krutsingh, 50, who was working on the site, was killed instantly.

The blasts followed a night of close to 100 near-simultaneous bombings, arson attacks and acts of sabotage across Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces – the second night of coordinated mayhem in the last six weeks.

In mid June, the troubled region was hit by 70 blasts in two days, most of which targeted government facilities. Tuesday’s attacks saw a rubber factory set ablaze and bombs detonated outside karaoke bars in Narathiwat. Tires were burned, police posts torched and Molotov cocktails thrown into government buildings and the homes of local officials.

Interior Minister ACM Kongsak Wanthana said security forces were expecting the attacks, having received prior warning from military intelligence. “Most of the bombings we knew would occur as we were informed earlier,” he told reporters. “The intelligence has also warned of more attacks soon, so we have ordered an immediate tightening of security.”

ACM Kongsak admitted tracking down those behind the attacks would be difficult.

“We do not know who they were,” he said, “we had no CCTV coverage where the incidents took place.”

Pattani Governor Phanu Uthairat said three people had been arrested in connection with the attacks, which he said were a show of force and unity by the militants. “This was to show the strength of their campaign at time when local people are starting to cooperate with the authorities to stop this violence,” he said.

One suspected militant, Salahuddin Dewah, was arrested after he was shot by security forces while setting a police booth ablaze, Phanu said. Another suspect, Yaganya Uning, is being detained after he was stopped while driving a pickup truck in Pattani.

A suspect was arrested in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district in connection with the blasts outside karaoke bars, police said. Analysts said the slew of attacks came because of the government’s poor intelligence capability and increased coordination within militant movements. – By Martin Petty and Oranong Wongchatipitak

Thai Day

Narathiwat, - THAILAND : Thai soldiers cordon off a karaoke bar following a bomb blast in Thailand's restive southern Narathiwat province, 02 August 2006. A wave of 40 coordinated bomb and arson attacks struck government and civilian targets across Thailand's Muslim-majority south, injuring at least two. It was the largest and best organised attack in more than a month in the south, where 1,400 people have died over the past two years in attacks blamed mainly on Islamic militant separatists. AFP PHOTO/ MADAREE TOHLALA

Three dead in Thailand after wave of attacks

by Rapee Mama, August 2, 2006

NARATHIWAT, Thailand (AFP) - Three Thai policemen were killed Wednesday in a blast just hours after a wave of nearly 100 coordinated bomb and arson attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, officials said.

Another officer was injured when the bomb exploded at a railway bridge in the southern province of Songkhla, around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of Bangkok. Police blamed the blast on suspected Islamic militants.

Songkhla is located next to Thailand's three insurgency-torn provinces where around 1,400 people have died over the past two years in separatist attacks and other unrest.

The railway attack came just hours after a string of 97 coordinated bomb and arson attacks across the region along the southern border with Malaysia late Tuesday that injured at least three people.

Tuesday's wave of incidents, the largest in more than a month in the restive south, targeted the homes of police and government officials, karaoke bars and a train station, officials said.

Only four people have been arrested in connection with the attacks, army Colonel Somkuan Seangpattaranetr said.

Most of the attacks caused minor fires only, with the exception of a rubber factory in Pattani province that burned for more than two hours.

"The latest attacks showed militants remained capable of launching coordinated attacks against the government," said Sunai Phasuk, a Thai consultant at Human Rights Watch.

"They also undermined the government's claim that they were making progress. In fact, the situation was getting worse," Sunai said.

The three provinces along the Malaysian border were an ethnic Malay sultanate until Buddhist Thailand annexed them a century ago, and separatist unrest has simmered ever since.

The latest violence erupted in January 2004. Officials say the bloodshed includes not only separatist violence but also fighting tied to organized crime, smuggling and local corruption.

The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has tried to quell the insurgency but analysts have said that heavy-handed tactics have instead brought the opposite results.

"The government should stop its aggressive policy. Instead of relying on the military, the government should conduct more dialogue" with local people, said Srawut Aree, a senior researcher at Chulalongkorn University.

Chaichana Ingkawat, a political science professor at Ramkhamhaeng University, said he saw no quick end to the raging violence.

"Insurgents keep disturbing security in the region because they just want to express their frustrations with the government," Chaichana said.

Last month the government again extended emergency rule in the three provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala for three more months. Thaksin imposed emergency rule in the south in July 2005.

Under emergency rule, authorities can detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge, search and arrest people without warrants, and tap phones.

It also gives security forces broad immunity from prosecution, which human rights groups claim creates a climate of impunity.

In June, the panel tasked with finding ways of ending the violence in the south recommended that the government create a permanent body to mediate in the Muslim-majority region.

The independent National Reconciliation Commission, a blue-ribbon panel appointed by the government in March 2005, also said local government officials should use the Malay language spoken by most of the residents in the region.

But the government has backed away from those and other proposals.

The Manager Online