Posted on 4/9/2005, 9:39:16 PM by nickcarraway
Terror tactics akin to those of Bali and Madrid are emerging in the troubled south, writes Peter Alford
THE bombing of Hat Yai airport last weekend was the latest in a succession of attacks causing regional security experts to ask if southern Thailand's insurgency is evolving into something even nastier.
Specifically, has a revived and Islamised separatist movement among the ethnic Malays who predominate in the three southernmost provinces, under pressure from a heavy-fisted government, adopted a terrorist strategy of striking at civilian targets?
That is a question of serious concern for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Government, which presides over an easily traversable country, a sprawling, internationalised capital and a huge but skittish tourist trade.
Others in the region worry about linkages developing between the Pattani liberation groups and foreign Islamic terrorists such as Jemaah Islamiah.
"We are very, very concerned about the possibilities for regional terrorism," a former senior diplomat said in Singapore this week. "We should try to offer whatever advice and assistance we can to Thailand."
Certainly Mr Thaksin's rough handling of the problem has provoked Muslim East Asia. Indonesia and Malaysia, which worked with earlier Thai governments to exclude insurgent groups from pan-Islamic forums, have angrily protested to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference over the repression of southern Thai communities.
Mr Thaksin finally shows signs of backing off. This week he abandoned the proposed security zoning of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces. Under that plan, the red zones of a region already economically left behind by the rest of Thailand would have been denied development aid.
Having put the three provinces under martial law last year, Mr Thaksin now signals the Government will reduce the activities of an estimated 35,000 troops and security forces.
Though shaken, the Government denies the insurgency has taken on a terrorist colour. Army chief Prawit Wongsuwan claimed last weekend's bombings in Songkhla province, next to the hotbed provinces but until now relatively calm, showed the insurgents were being squeezed from their operational areas.
"They show our measures are working in the southernmost provinces," he said.
More objective analysts, such as the National University of Singapore's Michael Montesano, think there is every cause to worry about methods and targeting not previously seen in the south.
Hat Yai airport and the nearby Carrefour supermarket, bombed almost simultaneously, were classic terrorist targets -- crowded, poorly secured and near but outside the conflict zone. But such a strike was new to the insurrection.
On February 17, a Bali-type car-bomb exploded outside the Marina Hotel in Sungai Golok, reportedly triggered by a mobile phone. These are techniques familiar from Bali and Madrid, but not southern Thailand.
"The location of recent incidents and the targeting of uninvolved civilians and places may suggest we are moving into a new and more serious stage," Dr Montesano said.
However, he said, in the age of the internet it was risky to interpret technology changes as evidence of foreign involvement, especially when nobody, including Thai security forces, knows for sure which group, if any, directs the action.
"My view is that we just don't know the answer to these questions and that's a terrible problem," Dr Montesano said. "The Thai Government and outside agencies need to work much harder on these questions."
Since last January, when an army depot was stormed and looted of weapons, the insurgency has achieved an intensity not seen since the 1970s. Rebels killed more than 500 people last year.
Buddhist monks have been targeted since a mysterious one-day uprising last April when the army killed 107 lightly armed rebels and damaged the venerable Krue Se mosque, and especially since the Tak Bai clashes in October, when 84 young Muslim protesters were crushed and suffocated while being transported by the army.
General Prawit claims the Hat Yai bombings show the insurgents are now lashing out in desperation. Recent events suggest he won't be waiting long for fresh evidence.
Islam brings death & stuffering WHEREVER it goes. (Just look @ Nigeria if U don't believe me.)
This is part of worldwide Jihad to eventually surround the great Satan with Islam, and then conquor from within and without.
If the Thais had ANY brains they would deport these people immediately....so would we.
Do not appease Islam in any way. It will be taken as a sign of weakness and an invitation to them to attack again. Crush the squirrels in their nests. That is the only kind of "negotiations" that Muslims have understood for over 1,ooo years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.