Bangkok, April 28
In a highly coordinated pre-dawn strike today, heavily armed suspected Islamic militants in Muslim-dominated Thailand’s south attacked police posts triggering a heavy gun-battle that left 90 ultras and five security men dead and scores injured.
Machete-wielding militants, mostly teenagers, stormed more than 15 police outposts and district offices in three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla on the Malaysian border, reports reaching here said.
Among the dead were 90 insurgents, four policemen and one soldier.
The security personnel fought a pitched battle for nearly seven hours with some militants holed up inside a mosque in Patni killing nearly a dozen ultras.
While the state-run Channel 9 gave the break-up of those killed as 90 insurgents, 3 policemen and one soldier, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said 93 persons were killed and the toll could rise to more than 100.
Most of the slain insurgents are aged between 15 to 20, chief of police for the south Lt-Gen Proong Bunphandung said.
Television channels showed bodies of insurgents lying in pools of blood, some clasping maschetes and some guns in front of police stations, district offices and village defence volunteer posts.
The police were well prepared for the early morning assault after receiving tips about proposed militant attacks to rob weapons, General Proong said.
This was the worst ever violence in the troubled South, which has witnessed almost continuous attacks since January this year, claiming the lives of 65 security forces, government officials and Buddhist monks.
The Prime Minister said the toll among the security forces was low because the attackers were armed only with machetes and a few had guns.
He described the attackers as
“youths from the southern provinces” whose actions were “not linked with international terrorists.”
Pattani and Yala are, along with Narathiwat, the only Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the fact that many were riding brand-new motorcycles suggested they were receiving financial support from influential figures in the area.
“Local politicians are involved,” he said, adding that the attacks were due to “organised crime mixed with politics”.
Mr Thaksin said the attackers intended “to rob guns from defence volunteers and district offices, but our troops were well prepared for that.”
One of the men killed in clashes today was found to be wearing a shirt with JI emblazoned on the back - a possible reference to Jemaah Islamiah, the group blamed for terrorist attacks across South East Asia, including the Bali bombings.
General Proong also said the police was well prepared for the early morning assault after receiving tips about proposed militant attacks to rob
weapons. — PTI
