Posted on 06/22/2005 9:52:13 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Suspected Islamic separatists beheaded a man at a teashop Wednesday and then left his head in a sack on the side of the road, the latest in a series of bold attacks across southern Thailand defying government attempts to restore peace.
In separate incidents also attributed to suspected Islamic militants, two bombs were detonated in Narathiwat province, injuring eight people, including two Buddhist monks.
Lek Pongpla, 34, a clothes vendor from northern Thailand, was shot twice before two attackers cut off his head in the teashop in Narathiwat's Joh Irong district, said police Lt. Wattana Ketamphai, citing the shopowner's account.
The attackers then put his head in a sack, which they left on a road about a mile away, Wattana said. He initially said a sole attacker carried out the killing in front of three customers, but he later said there were no customers present, without explaining the discrepancy.
It was the fifth beheading in just over two weeks.
More than 880 people have been killed since January last year, when a resurgent Islamic separatist movement intensified a campaign of bombings and killings in Thailand's far south. Most of the attacks are drive-by shootings and small bombings.
The southern provinces - Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat - are the only predominantly Islamic areas in Buddhist-majority Thailand, and southern Muslims often complain of discrimination in jobs and education. Officials say the beheadings are meant to terrorize the minority Buddhist population in the south into moving away and may be inspired by events in Iraq.
"This is an imitation of the situation in Iraq. They have this (beheading) in Iraq and they also have it here," said Thanee Thawitsri, the police deputy commander for the southern region.
Police also said suspected insurgents detonated a 7-pound bomb Wednesday in Narathiwat's capital district, injuring two police officers, two villagers and two Buddhist monks.
The bomb was triggered by a mobile phone as the monks, escorted by police, were on their traditional morning rounds to receive alms. Security forces guard monks and their temples because they have been the targets of extremists.
Later Wednesday, an 11-pound bomb exploded at a parking lot for city offices in the same district, injuring one person and damaging two cars and two motorcycles.
On Saturday, the beheaded bodies of two Laotian migrant workers were found in Pattani. On June 15, the head of a 65-year-old retired Buddhist school teacher was found, also in Pattani. On June 6, a Thai Buddhist rubber plantation worker was beheaded in Yala.
Notes left with several of the bodies said the actions were revenge for alleged repression by Thai authorities.
Islamic 'militants' suspected ....hmmmm, and the sun rose in the East today morn.
With Over 1 Billion Budhists and about 1 Billion Islamists, things can be ugly for a very long time.
5 beheadings in 14 days? That's nothing compared to what the US is doing to terrorists in prison. So forget about that and let's start talking about Gitmo.
- American MSM
Don't let Senator Turban get wind of this story.....somehow it will be Bush's fault.
ROP Alert! I guess they are upset over the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians......
TROP
It's amazing that they call us "the great satan" while every day you hear about more innocent people being ruthlessly murdered at their hands.
And then to call it the religion of peace... Give me a #*!@ing break.
Crazy islamics again. All the world unite! Wipe all butts with the Koran.
"More than 880 people have been killed since January last year, when a resurgent Islamic separatist movement intensified a campaign of bombings and killings in Thailand's far south. Most of the attacks are drive-by shootings and small bombings."
Seems to me that the 'Islamist Separatists' are making this a religious war. There is only one way to end such a war - make it so painful that they surrender ... all of them.
Since it is a religious war, treat it like one. For every bomb that goes off, blow up a mosque. For every killing or beheading, kill or behead a random mullah or imam. For every disco or cafe full of people that are blown up ... blow up a mosque full of worshippers. When the body count gets high enough over a long enough period of time, they will eventually get the message.
Please explain to me, yet again, why people think Islam is the moral equivalent of Christianity? Why people think that Islamists are a peace-loving people who wish to co-exist in society?
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