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[Bangkok Post] Gunmen kill 3 in Yala
[All of them were killed in front of the village headman's house in Yaha district.
At least three gunmen were involved in the shooting and they sprayed dozens of bullets with M-16 and AK47 assault rifles on the three villagers, police said.]
[The Nation] Car bomb in Yala kills one and injures many others
"A car bomb exploded Friday outside a crowded restaurant in Yala, killing one border policeman and wounding 12 others"
[The Independent] Ten killed in series of attacks in southern Thailand
"An army spokesman says 10 people have been killed and at least 25 wounded in two days of attacks in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand."
[WSJ] Hidden Links Bolster Southeast Asian Militants
[A member of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist militant group based in the southern Philippines, was recently arrested by Malaysian police while trying to enter southern Thailand, says Rohan Gunaratna, a regional terrorism expert at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. And Thai police have arrested Malaysian members of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorism network, including one who attempted to kill a policeman, he says.
"Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf group are very keen to assist" in southern Thailand, Mr. Gunaratna says.]
BP: This was more likely to provide training or to seek refuge than to control the violence. One needs to be careful on what one calls "links", but again you can't deny there are connections and relationships which exist.
[Bangkok Post] Rebels 'cross in for major strike'
[Insurgents from the Pattani United Liberation Organisation and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Coordinate trained in bomb-making overseas have infiltrated the South in preparation for a major strike, an intelligence source says.
...
Insurgents from the Pattani United Liberation Organisation and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Coordinate trained in bomb-making overseas have infiltrated the South in preparation for a major strike, an intelligence source says.]
BP: Not sure about the PULO part, but the overseas training is very likely true. Yes, bomb-making guides exist on the internet, but 50 kg bombs are much easier to learn from an expert.
[Bangkok Post] Conflicts sap Australian sentiment in Thailand
[Continuing political confrontations and escalating violence in the southernmost provinces have dampened Thailand's investment climate and could jeopardise the government's attempts to revive the Thai economy, said the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce.
...
Continuing political confrontations and escalating violence in the southernmost provinces have dampened Thailand's investment climate and could jeopardise the government's attempts to revive the Thai economy, said the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce.]
BP: Interesting that the Deep South plays a role
[IPS] Muslim Women Carve Leading Roles as Insurgency Rages
[Till last year, the rice fields near this village that sits in the midst of a rubber plantation had remained abandoned. It was neglect that is easily explained: a steady rise in the price of rubber had been more enticing to the villagers.]
BP: Story on female Muslims in the South and working.
[The Nation] 26 injured in Narathiwat car bomb attack
[Insurgents detonated a bomb hidden in a car park near a restaurant here, injuring 26 people who were having lunch, police said.
The attack occurred at the Suan Kluay Restaurant on Thammawithi Road in Narathiwat's city centre at 1:30 pm.
Police believed the bomb hidden in a pick-up truck, which was parked outside the restaurant, weighed about 50 kilogrammes.]
[The Nation] 3 officials killed, 4 injured in bombing ambush in Yala
[Insurgents detonated a bomb to ambush a team of assistant district chief of Yaha district and defence volunteers Saturday afternoon, killing three of them and injuring four others.]
BP: This is the second big attack today. There was another one in Narathiwat (should also be in the same post)
[The Nation] 2 soldies killed, 2 others injured, 1 policeman hurt in insurgency attack in Narathiwat
[Insurgents on two pick-up trucks bombarded a security checkpoint in this southern border province with gunfire early Sunday morning, killing two soldiers and injuring two other soldiers and a policeman.]
[AFP] Six killed in Thai south at start of Ramadan: Police
[A bomb killed three security volunteers in Thailand's south while militants shot dead three Muslim civilians as the region entered the holy month of Ramadan, police said Saturday.]
[AFP] Three killed in Thai south violence: police
[Suspected Muslim insurgents slit the throat of a rubber-tapper and shot dead two other men in the latest violence to hit Thailand's troubled far south, local police said Monday.]
[Reuters] Two Muslim village chiefs killed in Thai south
[Two Muslim village leaders were killed in drive-by shootings in Thailand's restive southernmost provinces, police said on Sunday.]
[New Mandala] Review of “Tearing Apart the Land”
[Duncan McCargo’s recent study, Tearing Apart the Land, sets itself apart from other ‘political studies’ on the troubling Thai ‘deep south’. Based on empirical data, the book brings a breath of fresh air; it at least shows the author has made an attempt go down on the ground, trying to address the turbulent southern crisis from a ‘bottom-up’ and complex perspective. Religion, ethno-nationalism, and ‘national’ policies that delivered more harm than effective results, are all covered. They point towards the main theme of the book – political legitimacy (or the lack of it) — the argument McCargo develops to structure the flow of his chapters.]
BP: Good review
[Bangkok Post] Families renew Tak Bai appeal
[They asked the Appeals Court to overturn the Songkhla Court's ruling on the deaths of 78 protesters on Oct 25, 2004, claiming it was unfair and failed to uphold the relatives and victims' rights according to the constitution. They also said the ruling was not in line with Article 150 of the Criminal Code.
The Songkhla Court did not rule on what led to the deaths and did not touch on the people involved in the activities that resulted in the deaths, despite the relatives' presentation of witness testimony, documents, pictures and video footage of the incident. The court only ruled on the cause of death, that the 78 people suffocated.]
[AFP] 4 killed in new Thai violence
[SUSPECTED separatist insurgents in Thailand's troubled south shot dead four civilians while a remote-controlled bomb wounded five other people, police said on Tuesday.]
[Bangkok Post] Is Abhisit Ignoring the Deep South?
[Six months ago, there were at least muted hopes than freshman Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva would turn his attention to the South.
The region poses the greatest existing security threat to the lives of the people in the four southernmost provinces.
...
Instead, Mr Abhisit has effectively ignored the deep South. His Democrat Party, once the hope for peace in the South, has been conspicuously silent on the problem.]
BP: This is unfair. Thaksin was criticized for ignoring the South so was Samak. This is often said to be back of a lack of visits. If Abhisit is too visit, the attacks will increase. If he says or does anything, the attacks will increase. It is a lose-lose situation politically. It is about getting the policies right as opposed to speaking about it publicly. You can't he has ignored the South either since the editorial refers to a new economic policy. Now, on whether the policies are right. BP thinks you can criticize him for the 63 billion baht economic package given the military seem to be controlling it, but on other areas we are still short on specifics.
[Washington Times] Ethnic violence spreads in Thailand
[Terrorist attacks in the villages of southern Thailand have reached an all-time high, as schools become breeding grounds for young fighters in the conflict between Muslim insurgents and Buddhists, analysts say.
...
"The level of violence is up, the level sophistication is up, the level of religious fervor is up," said Peter Chalk, a senior political scientist at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit think tank.]
BP: Some other interesting quotes from senior Thai diplomatic staff in Washington and others.
[Science Daily] Mathematical Model Shows Why Defeating Insurgent Groups Like Taliban Is So Difficult
[Insurgent groups like the Taliban can only be effectively engaged with timely and accurate military intelligence, and even good intelligence may only succeed in containing the insurgency, not defeating it, according to a new study.
The study is one of the first to combine military intelligence, attrition and civilian population behavior in a unified model of counterinsurgency dynamics.]
BP: An interesting report
[Bangkok Post] Rebels killed 115 teachers since 2004
[Lekha Issara, from Ban Po Meng in tambon Kayuboko of Yala's Raman district, was killed on June 16, the latest teacher to fall victim to separatist attacks.
She was the 115th teacher in the three southern border provinces to have been killed.]
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