Home>News Center>World
         
 

112 die in Thailand's quash of militants
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-29 01:24

Troops and police killed more than 100 gun and machete-wielding Muslim militants Wednesday, including more than 30 in a three-hour mosque shoot-out, on a day of carnage in Thailand's restive south.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said 107 "bandits" and five soldiers died in the fighting, which started when gangs of mainly young men -- some wearing Islamic slogans -- launched dawn attacks on army and police posts across the predominantly Muslim region.


A Thai soldier stands guard outside a mosque in Thailand's largely Muslim province of Pattani, 1,150 km (718 miles) south of Bangkok on April 28, 2004. [Reuters]

Army chief General Chaiyasidh Shinawatra said intelligence services had been tipped off about the attacks, meaning security forces were ready and waiting for trouble.

"Our intelligence operations have been beefed up a lot with the help of local people, some of whom have supplied us with tips and information," he told a news conference.

Many of those involved in the assaults, which mark a major escalation in four months of violence in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, were wearing black or dark green uniforms with bright red headbands.

Their motive remains a mystery.

"Judging from their dead bodies, they had taken narcotics. Their smell suggested the use of drug-laced cough drops," Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters.

Thaksin vowed to smash what he said were rings of troublemakers motivated purely by crime, rather than by religion or ideology, in a region that saw a low-key Muslim separatist rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s.

But the widespread and co-ordinated nature of the attacks on about 15 security installations across the provinces bordering Malaysia suggested that forces other than pure gangsterism or drugs were at work, analysts said.

"We will uproot them, depriving them of a chance to allude to issues of separatism and religion. In the end, they were all bandits," Thaksin said.

After a three-hour gun battle at a well-known mosque near the provincial town of Pattani, soldiers were dragging bodies from the bullet-riddled building for fear they might be rigged to booby traps, witnesses said. Tear gas still hung in the air.

"We had no choice but to take decisive action and storm the place to wrap up our operations as quickly as possible," said army head Chaiyasidh.

Two more battalions were sent to an area already crawling with military personnel, army officials said.

Elsewhere in the forested, hilly region, television showed a sandbagged police post ablaze after one of the attacks. Burning motorcycles were scattered in and around the compound and the corpses of two rebels lay in the entrance hallway.

One wore a Muslim prayer cap, and both had red scarves tied around their heads and waists.

One also wore a green T-shirt emblazoned with Arabic writing and the letters "JI" -- a possible reference to Jemaah Islamiah, the group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and blamed for terror attacks across Southeast Asia.

Television also showed wounded border soldiers, their green battle fatigues soaked in blood, being hauled out of trucks onto hospital stretchers. At least one soldier was seen lying dead in the rubble of a destroyed building.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces have been hit by a wave of shootings, bombings and arson attacks that had already claimed more than 60 lives since a January 4 raid on an army barracks that left four soldiers dead.

In Bangkok, where the stock market fell 1.2 per cent on fears of escalating violence, Thaksin called an emergency meeting of top security officials. The Thai baht fell to a four-month low.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

New suspected SARS case; lab visitors warned

 

   
 

Illegal land use sinks iron project

 

   
 

112 die in Thailand's quash of militants

 

   
 

Senator brands Cheney 'lead chickenhawk'

 

   
 

Reform on officials' car use in the offing

 

   
 

New Oriental language school set to appeal

 

   
  112 die in Thailand's quash of militants
   
  Iraqis polled: War did more harm than good
   
  Japanese hold 'funeral' for chickens
   
  Annan lashes at critics on Iraq oil, food scandal
   
  Saddam spent 67th birthday in captivity
   
  UN council unanimously adopts terrorist arms ban
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
97 killed in south Thailand gunbattles
   
Thai police kill 24 in attacks in Muslim south
  News Talk  
  Will the new national flag fly?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: ww亚洲ww在线观看国产| 一级做a爱片就在线看| 欧美性猛交xxxx免费看| 免费a级毛片在线播放| 色偷偷人人澡久久天天| 国产欧美一区二区三区在线看| 97无码免费人妻超级碰碰夜夜| 小泽玛利亚番号| 中文字幕日韩欧美一区二区三区 | 日本三级韩国三级香港三的极不 | 色婷婷亚洲一区二区三区| 国产无套中出学生姝| 51精品国产人成在线观看| 天天夜碰日日摸日日澡| 一级毛片www| 扒开粉嫩的小缝开始亲吻男女| 久久精品国产亚洲AV麻豆网站 | 曰韩无码二三区中文字幕| 亚洲天天做日日做天天欢毛片| 波多野结衣中文丝袜字幕| 伊人久久精品一区二区三区| 精品人妻中文无码AV在线| 啊灬啊别停灬用力啊动视频| 蜜中蜜3在线观看视频| 国产午夜一区二区在线观看| 亚洲第一成人在线| 国产精品入口麻豆高清| 5g影院天天爽爽| 国产精品自产拍在线观看花钱看| 亚洲国产精品成人精品小说 | 一个人免费视频观看在线www| 成人年无码av片在线观看| 久久91精品久久91综合| 日本不卡1卡2卡三卡四卡最新| 久久国产免费观看精品3| 日韩欧美在线看| 亚洲H在线播放在线观看H| 欧美h版在线观看| 亚洲va成无码人在线观看天堂| 欧美中文在线观看| 亚洲中文字幕伊人久久无码|