Thai Muslim Soccer Team Turned Militant Overnight

Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | Friday, April 30, 2004, 7:57 AM ET | Nopporn Wong-Anan

[SlickWillard]

 
BAAN SUSOE, Thailand (Reuters) - The shooting of an entire team of 19 soccer players from the same Muslim village in southern Thailand after they attacked a security checkpoint has left relatives stunned, mystified and outraged.

Reuters Photo

Revelations about the soccer team give a disturbing insight into the minds if not the motives of those involved in Wednesday's violence, in which troops shot dead 108 machete and gun-toting militants after coming under attack.

Three days after defending their annual county soccer title, the "All Stars" team of Baan Susoe village near the Malaysian border mounted nine motorcycles and rode 23 km (15 miles) through the night to launch a dawn attack on a security checkpoint.

They planned to steal weapons from the soldiers, local people said, but armed only with machetes against the automatic rifles of Thai troops who had already been tipped off, they didn't stand a chance. Five members of the security forces were killed.

One of the youths, who were all aged between 19 and 26, managed to strike a soldier with his blade. The rest were all shot dead before they even got close.

Relatives of one of the dead, 20-year-old Kamaruding Baeprommi, told Reuters he had had the potential to become a soccer superstar for Thailand's national team.

"He started playing soccer when he was eight and was very good," said Pitaya Baeprommi, Kamaruding's elder brother and head of the village sports club.

"He had the potential to become a national superstar so I encouraged him to go into the army and play soccer. He represented his barracks in an army regional tournament," Pitaya said.

There was no sign that his younger brother, whose 21-year-old wife Koriya Samae was three months pregnant with their first child, would have committed a crime until the eve of the attack, Pitaya said.

"On that night he came home from his wife's with a suitcase and told his mother that he would go on a Dahwah," Pitaya said, referring to an Islamic religious mission.

DRIVEN BY DRUGS, OR ISLAM?

Government officials said tests had shown four of the "All Stars" used a heady mixture of methamphetamine and marijuana before launching the motorcycle raid.

"We also found prayer beads and five commandments written in the Malay dialect, Yawi, in their backpacks," local district official Suvej Taepee, told Reuters.

Four of the 19 men had also been teachers at an Islamic primary school in the village, he said.

Residents acknowledged the "All Stars" might well have smoked marijuana, a habit common throughout the impoverished area, but they described their friends as "local heroes," as dedicated to Islam as they were to soccer.

"This is excessively brutal," said Sutha Lohpanasa, 35, a teacher at a school in a nearby village whose 19-year-old nephew was also among the dead.

"Every single one of them had bullets in their heads. The officers knew nothing about human rights. They were all sharp-shooters," he said.

"My nephew and many of his friends were good lads. His daily life was going to school, praying, and practicing soccer. We knew nothing of his bad behavior."

Kamaruding's new widow, Koriya, was shell-shocked by her husband's death.

"I am devastated. I don't know what to do now. I will stay single and go back and live with my family," she said, fighting back tears.
 

[First_Salute]

Soccor Moms in armored Humvees.

[7.62 x 51mm]

The "militant" is wearing a bomb belt-vest. The "moderate" has the remote control device.

or

There isn't a difference; the "moderate" is just taking his turn at rest, until the "mililtant" is killed and needs a sub sent into the massacre.

[Jubal Harshaw]

regarding the line ""Every single one of them had bullets in their heads. The officers knew nothing about human rights. They were all sharp-shooters," the assumption among the commentors is that, indeed this was simply a case of good shooting. Maybe. On the other hand, it is possible that the fact that ALL the alleged attackers had the SAME bullet wound implies execution in a controlled fashion, rather than good marksmanship in the heat of battle. For all I know, the alleged attack on an armed compound never took place, but was simply a cover story. The Thai government is NOT the US government, and it has remarkably little of what we would consider normal oversight.

[Feiny]

methamphetamine and marijuana ???

What a stupid combination. You'd think they would cancel each other out....

[beelzepug]

"A "militant" muslim is one who blows himself up in a crowd of civilians, a "moderate" muslim is the one who sends him."

Good explanation. The question made me think about that line from "Full Metal Jacket": "If he runs, he's a VC; if he stands still, he's a well-disciplined VC....Get some!!!"

[AngryJawa]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAL!

LOL! Now that's funny!

Seriously, I'm really starting to have a problem not thinking that even the most "moderate" of muslims isn't just a bad mood away from turning "extremist".

If this stuff doesn't start to abate soon, we're gonna start seeing body counts that will make Pol Pot look like a piker.

[fso301]

"Every single one of them had bullets in their heads. The officers knew nothing about human rights. They were all sharp-shooters,"

Well, it sure looks as if the officers knew a lot about gun control.

[Walkingfeather]

Moderate Islam is the trojan horse of Militant islam.

[TheSpottedOwl]

"My nephew and many of his friends were good lads. His daily life was going to school, praying, and practicing soccer. We knew nothing of his bad behavior."

Reminds me of what relatives say about gang members who get shot commiting crimes.

[Walkingfeather]

"He was a good boy before his friends POURED wiskey down his throat...."

[MediaMole]

There were over 120 attackers, the soccer team was just part of the overall assault.

[VeniVidiVici]

This sounds too goofy to be completely true.

[traumer]

The time bomb is in THEIR GENES...

[adam_az]

On a related note, I wonder what the soccer moms think about this one.

LULULULULULULULULULULU!

[adam_az]

For all I know, the alleged attack on an armed compound never took place, but was simply a cover story.

I see. So they killed 5 of their fellow officers just to make it look realistic? You're smoking crack, buddy. Occam's razor.

[Esther Ruth]

"This sounds too goofy to be completely true."

Missionaries who work in other parts of the world sometimes - sometimes will speak - of how evil manifests itself in other parts of the world. They are afraid to tell us what it really looks like because for some reason we are "not able to deal with it", we deny it (myself included), or think it is exaggerated. They also speak of a "collective force of evil" that seems to dominate and oppress - but even as good people who acknowledge the existence of good and evil, we have a tendency in the west to first - and initially explain away these things some other way, we look for any other explanation first. We have been mocked for claiming to believe in the existence of evil so we are now careful (some of us) to take our clues from the godless PC of the world.

[Safetgiver]

A moderate is a Moe-hamhhead out of explosives.

[CFC__VRWC]

"Every single one of them had bullets in their heads. The officers knew nothing about human rights. They were all sharp-shooters," he said.

How dare the officers shoot back and not just stand there and let themselves get hacked to pieces by these peaceful Muslim youths!

[Moose4]

(insert Indiana Jones picture here)

}:-)4

[wingster]

Just out of curiosity, how do you tell a "militant" moslem from a "moderate" moslem. This is no joke, I would like to know.

YUP!!! EXACTLY!!! Especially since the "moderate" or "peace loving" ones don't ever seem to be too particularly disturbed by what the "militant" and violent ones do!

Great point and I've made it before myself. Until they start tattooing letters on their foreheads, it ain't happenin'!

As well, I've taken a new stand. When I meet muslims in the future, I'm going to start asking them, "I've been researching your Quran and it says in there that you should hate me! What can you tell me about that?" Then, after their answer I'm gonna ask them point blank, "do you believe what the Quran says, or not?"

If they answer yes, I'm going to ask them how they expect us to be friends! Should I befriend someone who's religion states they should hate me and not befriend me? I will never convert to islam, that much I can assure them, so does that mean they'd be in favor of killing me at some point or seeing it done as the Quran says???

Great points, great questions to ask your local "peace loving" muslims!!!