127 killed in Thai crackdown on Muslim separatists (125 of them are Muslim)

Daily Times ^ | 4.29.04

[ambrose]

127 killed in Thai crackdown on Muslim separatists

BANGKOK: At least 127 people, all but two of them suspected Muslim separatists, were killed in a series of clashes in Thailand's Muslim south on Wednesday, officials said.

Major Chitnart Bunnothok, spokesman for the Fourth Army that patrols the troubled region, said 93 attackers were killed, 12 were injured and one was arrested in a series of dawn raids on police and army checkpoints. At least 32 suspected separatists were later killed when Thai troops stormed a mosque where the militants had holed up after battling security forces, officials said. "Initial reports say that the bodies of between 32 and 38 attackers were found inside the mosque," said Major Chitnart Bunnothok, spokesman for the Fourth Army which patrols southern Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the toll among security forces was low because the attackers in the dawn raids were only armed with machetes and a few guns. "Two security officers have died and nine are injured," he told reporters.

Troops sent: Hundreds of troops fanned out across southern Thailand on Thursday to shut down the restive region after a day of carnage in which security forces shot dead over 100 gun and machete-wielding Muslim militants. Army chiefs ordered two extra battalions of soldiers into the country's three southernmost provinces, a predominantly Muslim region already crawling with police and security officials after nearly four months of low-level unrest. -Agencies

[ambrose]

From New Nation Online Edition

World News
Bloodiest clashes in Thailand: 127 killed
By AFP, Pattani
Apr 28, 2004, 12:53

Clashes between security forces and suspected Muslim rebels in southern Thailand on Wednesday left at least 127 dead in the bloodiest day in the history of the troubled region, officials said.

The authorities said police and soldiers battled armed groups who launched coordinated dawn attacks at 10 police stations and security checkpoints in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla near the Malaysian border.

Officials said the attackers were mostly teenagers, poorly armed with only machetes and a few guns. Television footage showed their dead bodies being lifted from pools of blood and thrown unceremoniously into trucks. The last battlezone was at a mosque outside Pattani provincial town, where between 32 and 38 rebels who had holed up there after fleeing security forces were killed when troops stormed the building to end a six-hour standoff.

Major Chitnart Bunnothok, spokesman for the Fourth Army which patrols the troubled region, said before the mosque raid that 93 attackers had been killed, 12 were injured and one was arrested.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said only two security personnel were killed and that the toll was low because police and army were well prepared and the attackers were only lightly armed.

The attacks were the latest in a series of bombings, raids and murders in Thailand?s southern provinces, which over the past four months have claimed the lives of some 65 security forces, government officials and Buddhist monks.

The provincial town of Pattani in southern Thailand Wednesday showed the scars of what the authorities said was a fierce battle between the security forces and Muslim rebels.

Helicopters hovered over a mosque outside the town where the last of the rebels were holed up, and a dark plume of smoke billowed from the concrete building.

Television reports said soldiers were attempting to force the militants out by firing rocket-propelled grenades and tear gas inside. Other forces sprinted through fields of coconut trees surrounding the mosque to take up their positions, while police said they were preparing to storm the building.

?We are fighting them now with a helicopter providing air surveillence support, I don?t know how many of them inside,? said deputy regional police commander Major General Thani Thawitsri.

The authorities said at least 95 people, including 93 rebels and two security force personnel, were killed in a coordinated series of pre-dawn raids on police stations and security checkpoints in three southern provinces.

The attackers were young, barely out of their teens, and poorly armed with mostly machetes and only a few weapons. By all accounts, they were mown down by well-prepared police backed up by army reinforcements.

Television footage showed checkpoints ablaze and bleeding police officers being carried away for medical attention.

The fallout from the morning?s battle?the worst violence in the history of the restive southern provinces bordering Malaysia where most Thai Muslims live?was evident in the dozens of bodies scattered around the scene.

Some dressed in Muslim skull caps or balaclavas, and others still holding their machetes in their hands, their blood-soaked bodies were unceremoniously thrown into pick-up trucks to be taken for forensic examination.

Elsewhere in the troubled region, trucks disgorged dozens of soldiers in combat gear to reinforce the already extremely tight security presence.

Convoys of trucks and buses carrying heavily armed soldiers in camouflage fatigues rumbled through Pattani, as did armoured personnel carriers bristling with weapons.



© Copyright 2003 by ittefaq.com

[johnb838]

You gotta love them Thais. Remember a year or two ago when they went on an anti-drug dealer sweep and killed like 350? They know how to deal with this sh!t. Very sweet people though. Just don't f' wi'em

[taxesareforever]

Isn't this the peace loving religion we are being constantly told about?

[Wumpus Hunter]

Muslims 2
Civilization 125

[cripplecreek]

I was called a racist today for posting that story, one about the Kosovar muslims, and Nigerian violence. Ahh so it is with American liberalism.

[leadpenny]

Profiling DOES work.

[JimSEA]

Well, they have their "holy martyrs" now. This is just beginning, these Islamists are no more normal in their thought patterns than their soul brothers the Palistinians. Seems like they are intentionally inviting a massacre so their movement looks like the student uprisings of 76, 92, etc. Sickening isn't it.

At least there are a few less that need killing.

[JamesA]

Yes, profiles in courage maybe and they still shoot mad dogs in most places.

[BurbankKarl]

Did we ask the Thai army for troops in Iraq?

[ambrose]

It seems that you've finally managed to turn up one of those 'peaceful' Muslims that the President is always talking about.

[TheLion]

"stormed a mosque where the militants had holed up"

That's the ticket!

[cripplecreek]

Liberal America is having a really hard time arguing their point that this stuff is all the fault of American oppression.

They say the attack in Spain was our fault, but are incapable of questioning the reasons terrorists were in spain back well before 9/11.

Try this little experiment. Ask a liberal why muslims are killing bhuddists, and hindus. Better yet ask them why muslims are killing muslims.

[Vigilanteman]

God rest the souls of the two Thais.

[peter the great]

I checked this story out on CNN on line and then on Fox news on-line and the difference in the coverage is astounding to say the least. Yes liberals do have a hard time with this it shows with CNN's coverage.

[TBall]

Wow, what powerful picture. The guy in the hat has one big don't F with me expression.

[newbieO1]

Nice shooting